Bent but not Broken
by Neputola
Summary: Takes place 18 months after Lubbock's death. The revolutionary army is in shambles as the empire is finally quelling the rebellion. Tatsumi is living under Esdese's protection, having accepted her offer back then. Trying to destroy the empire from the inside by sectretly sowing seeds of internal conflict while hiding behind it's strongest general. Rated M for gore,lemons,violence.
1. Prologue

**Foreword**

**I began writing this as a consolation for Esdese's failed attempt at love. Simply wanting to create a scenario where it all worked out. However, the story grew in the telling into something much bigger that I actually started to enjoy writing about.**

**Some warnings:**

**The story will have some OCs but they are mainly there to help the plot move forward or act as extras. Some of their roles might be bigger than others but they are only there to keep the wheels turning.**

**This also features a bit more shrewd and darker version of Tatsumi. What has brought on this change will be explained as the story goes on as well as everything that has happened during the 18 months before the first chapter.**

**To warn that an AGK story will contain violence and gore feels**** redundant but this will also contain sexual themes(lemons). Though not in a too gratuitous sense. I hope.**

**This will be completely based on the manga.**

**Finally, this is a huge story but do not feel intimidated. There is almost nothing in this that does not connect to another point of the story. Some things that happen in the first four chapters may come back and completely change what happens twenty chapters later. There is no filler here. **

**Ok? Ok! On with the show!**

* * *

**Prologue**

The huge doors to the giant hall opened up and almost all the heads in the room turned as the guards announced Esdese's arrival to the meeting.

The giant beautiful hall was filled with people. Half were warriors and agents,lined up in long rows. Waiting for their names or cases to be called out. Some of them had dusty and damaged uniforms and cloaks. Attesting that they were newly arrived from the field. Others were bandaged up or wounded from recent battles. While some of them didn't even have a single speck of dust on their clothes.

The other half was nobles and politicians who had come to watch the event. To see if any of their investments had paid off or if there were some new talents or prodigies they needed to keep an eye out for on the political field in the future. And some had only come to see if they have won bets about the different warriors' successes.

As Esdese strode through the hall many nobles and politicians came forth to congratulate her on recent victories or praise her ever growing power and influence in the empire. Wishing to secure some goodwill with the empires strongest general. She paid them little mind, though. Giving the slightest of nods to a few and outright ignoring the rest. She had much more competent and powerful people who would lick her boots for her if she so desired. Both literally and metaphorically. Her mood was already bad as it was even without the annoyance of their yapping mouths.

She headed straight for the end of the hall where a podium had been raised. With an old extravagant table and four huge armchairs on top of it. Two of the chairs at this table were empty and the other two were occupied by a minister of internal affairs, an old man with glasses and long white hair, and great general Budo. One of the empty chairs was intended for her but she didn't know who the last empty chair belonged to.

Esdese couldn't for the life of her understand why she had to be here in the first place.

This was a ceremony to reward agents,warriors and soldiers who had been given special missions outside of standard army practices. As per standard, a minister and the great general was there to listen to the reports from those who had returned and measure out suiting rewards depending on the success of the mission given.

It was also standard to have another two randomly selected higher-ups from the military present, to show respect to the successful people who had returned.

But why, in heaven's name, had she been called in for this! She was the biggest military resource the empire had. She should be hunting the revolutionary army or leading campaigns against foreign forces. Not sitting here and listening to how these far less capable people bragged on about their achievements. To her, it seemed to be such a huge waste of resources to have her do something this mundane.

And so gnawingly, soul-crushingly boring.

Yet she was still a general of the empire and certain things were expected of her. She had to accept that, she reminded herself.

She sighed as she walked up on the podium with her hands on her hips. She gave the minister and the great general a court nod before sitting down beside them. She had just started to lean back in the chair when the guards announced the arrival of yet another general.

Esdese rolled her eyes. Now this was just getting silly. Three generals and a minister gathering together. Just to watch these mongrels get their meager rewards.

From her chair, she watched the last general make his way towards the podium. He was a tall man in his later twenties with messy dark brown hair that reached down a bit past his shoulders. With long gray streaks in it. His eyes seemed very tired but he still gave off a perceptive aura. She knew him from the times when she was still not high in the military ranks. They had both become generals at about the same time.

Though he had directly been sent off to the western borders of the empire to lead the fight against foreign forces.

He had gained a lot of fame in recent months, Esdese recalled. His army had recently lost all their supply lines when the enemy forces managed to outmaneuver them. In most scenarios concerning huge forces, such a blunder would mean an orderly retreat until those supply lines were re-established.

However, the general in question had not opted for that. Instead, he had forced his army outside the empire's borders ,into the hostile land. Sustaining his forces by pillaging ,looting and destroying the foreign soil and its inhabitants. In the end, the opposing force had been forced to retreat back from the empire's borders to defend their native land from the imperial army. Which by that time had set half of said land aflame.

And when they started to set up defensive positions in their own lands,the imperial army could easily march back into the empire. The threat neutralized. The enemy who had produced it damaged so bad it would take generations to build back what they had lost.

He had returned to the capital from this campaign just some weeks ago. He had replaced most of his tattered and torn uniform but had chosen to keep the long coat which was the insignia of their rank. The now dusty and destroyed long coat made him look like he had been living in the wild for a couple of years.

The nobles and officers frowned at the ragged appearance of the general but Esdese did not care. She had never disliked people that flaunted their achievements as long as their efforts were commendable. Esdese could respect the ruthlessness this man had displayed. Unlike the rabble she would have to listen to in the coming hours.

The great general and the old minister seemed to be busy discussing the list of people attending so Esdese took it upon herself to welcome the last general to arrive.

"So they got you too, general Makeias" she said as she looked over to him with a bitter smile as he walked up on the podium.

"Ok, why the FUCK are you here, Esdese?" general Makeias exclaimed tiredly while gesturing with an open hand in her direction. Esdese simply closed her eyes and shrugged in response.

"I understand that they maybe happened to summon one field-general but two at the same time? When there is only five of us in the entire empire. Senseless." he sighed and sat down in the last chair by her left side. "Oh well, maybe they wanted the soldiers to have something beautiful to look at while they receive their rewards."

"You do know how to charm a girl." Esdese said bitterly. "And I suppose you were only summoned here to annoy the noblemen with you fashion sense."

"What are you talking about? I am obviously the beauty here. You were only called here to scare the soldiers of what they might become if they are too ambitious." Makeias joked and smiled. Esdese chuckled and decided to reward him with a warmer smile. He was one of the few people in the capital which she could have a little more playful banter with.

Most of her followers or subordinates were far too fearful of saying the wrong thing or offending her in some way. So she usually enjoyed general Makeias' company.

Although she had a feeling that she might have to show him his place in the future since he sometimes pushed his luck a little bit too far with her. General ranking or not. But that could be quite a fun activity as well, when the time came.

"Though I swear to you. Someone, somewhere is fucking with us. This is just too idiotic to be a coincidence." Makeias continued while leaning back into the armchair. "Can you think of any reason why people would resent you?"

"Nope." Esdese said with exaggerated and hollow sweetness."Can't think of any reason at all."

"Yeah, neither can I." The other general laughed. "Jokes aside, though, I have heard rumors that the torture chambers have been unusually barbaric these past two weeks. I heard that someone had abandoned all kind of delicacy in her punishments in favor of raw brutal force. I heard that it seems that someone has been quite frustrated these last fourteen days." He smiled at her.

"It seems like you hear a lot of things." Esdese said dryly. He was starting to tread on thin ice again. However, it was fun to see just how far he dared to go. It would also be quite enjoyable if he choose to push her too far and give her a reason to subdue him, Esdese reflected.

"And I guess a general who disregards all protocol and orders he received just to rape, pillage and burn a foreign country in order cover up for his own mistake only has well-wishes coming his way?"

She saw how his smile faded a little bit and knew she had hit a good spot. "I mean, you did only lose about half of the forces you were put in charge of. **I heard**."

This time, it was the other general's turn to smile and shrug. "Harsh times, Harsh measure. So on and so forth. And I lost closer to a third of my army, by the way."

Esdese was about to turn the verbal knife around in his wound but she was cut short as the booming voice of great general Budo echoed in the hall. "The procedure will now begin. Step forth and give your reports when your cases are called."

Esdese leaned back into the chair. Consigning herself to the boredom to come.

"Case number one. Step forth." the old minister called out.

Two hours and seventy-three awarded soldiers later and Esdese felt how her grip on sanity was starting to leave her.

She could weather any storm nature could muster. There was no creature alive that she could not subdue. Scorching sun or freezing night did not even bother her. Even pain could be a sweet thing to her. In the right circumstances. But this, this was more than she could bear.

This was so goddam boring!

The proud general was slouched forward over the table. Her head resting in her left hand while her right one slowly tapped the table with its fingers. She and Makeias were both mainly field-generals so they had little to do with these tasks and thus had nothing to do but sit there and wait. She couldn't even pretend to be interested in how these weaklings patted each other on the back anymore.

Esdese was fully convinced that if there was a hell waiting for her, it would be something like this. She would rather write a thousand battle reports than sit her for the rest of the day. If someone indeed was playing a prank on her, they best pray that she never find them. She was even starting to consider to ask the prime minister about who was responsible for this farce.

To top it all of, she was also pretty sure that her fellow general had managed to fall asleep with his eyes open. His breathing had become extremely steady and she could tell that his heartbeats had slowed down. He had also been staring at the same spot on the opposite wall for about thirty minutes.

_Quite an astounding feat actually. But he will pay for his desertion!_, Esdese thought as she started to cast glances at his right leg. Either the knee or the foot. She wanted his pain to last a bit so she was debating which one was the best alternative. Considering that they would both remain seated for a couple more hours.

Her violent undertakings were however disrupted before they could even begin.

"Next" the dry voice of the old minister called out. "Case number seventy-four, step forward."

"Yes, sir!"

Her insides reacted quickly to the sound of the voice.

Esdese straightened up so fast that she made the other general jump a couple of centimeter up in his chair. Thinking that her superior instincts had perceived an incoming attack. But to his wonder, Esdese's eyes were glued to the young man who had just stepped forward. The boy had brown hair and a very slight stubble from being on the road for a while, he wore a dusty coat and had a mid-sized sword strapped horizontally on his back. Makeias didn't understand what was going on.

Esdese however, was screaming internally.

Finally!

Suddenly twenty-two days of pent-up frustration, aching and longing came bubbling up in her. Why had she allowed him to go on such a long mission?! She must have been stricken with a fit of madness when she finally choose to grant her lover's request. He had begged her for it for almost a month but now she knew that he would have to grovel and beg for years before she would allow him to be away from her for so long again.

Her longing rampantly turned into lust and her predatory instincts raged inside of her. Screaming for her to kick over the extravagant table and tackle the young man before he could even react. And then claim him right then and there. Daring anyone in the court to try and stop the vulgar display of her dominating love.

As this storm of thoughts raged on inside of her, the ice queen still kept a calm and collected exterior. Her slightly more labored breathing only detectable to the most perceptive of watchers.

"Name and rank, soldier." The great general demanded.

"Tatsumi of the jaegers, sir." The young man responded with gusto.

"Ahhh." general Makeias said as he now started to understand the situation. A sly smile spreading across his face. So that is the one, he thought.

"I must admit that I expected him to be a bit.. different." He said and looked over to Esdese. She didn't even favor him with a glance. Tatsumi now had her undivided attention. The other general was nothing more than an annoyance for the time being.

"Special forces, then." The minister said rhetorically and started to flip through his papers.

"Report, jaeger" The great general ordered.

"I arrived at the capital this morning. My mission was a complete success." Tatsumi proudly announced.

_Arrived this morning!_, Esdese raged in her head. W_hy didn't you come to me the first thing you did? Why did you wait to stand in line with this rabble when you knew I was waiting for you. I could have spared you from this boredom. And how dare you make me face this loneliness for half a day more than necessary?!_, she thought. She would make him pay for that tonight when she took what was hers.

Esdese closed her right hand which had been laying on the table since she heard Tatsumi's voice. Her nails carving deep scars in the old wood as she did.

"Well, according to the archives, you were given this mission directly by general Esdese." The old minister said while reading from one of his papers. "All rewards and promotions are to be stipulated at her discretion."

Tatsumi finally turned his eyes to Esdese. He felt how he started to sweat. It had been hard to not notice how hard she had stared at him from the start. He could almost feel her gaze piercing him. Those beautiful eyes now filled with hunger. However, he had also noted that she had not smiled at him since he stepped forth. Was she angry at him? Had she managed to uncover something in his absence? He swallowed and forced down his instincts to flee. All or nothing,he thought as he smiled the most genuine smile he could muster.

"I have returned to you, general Esdese!" He said with hollow self-confidence.

He saw her nostrils flare and he almost felt his heart stop for a moment. Then she smiled her most uncharacteristically gentle smile.

"I'm very pleased to see you return successfully, Tatsumi. Be in the jaeger's quarters when this assembly is done and I will personally... debrief you."

Tatsumi could swear that her smile had a slight change of character towards the end of that order.

"Yes, general!" He exclaimed as he saluted the people at the table.

"Dismissed." The great general announced with a wave of his hand.

Tatsumi immediately turned on his heels and marched out of the great hall. While the noblemen and politicians whispered and pointed at his back. During the eighteen months he had been in Esdese's "service" he had gained quite a mixed reputation.

In the beginning of his time with the jaegers, most of the military had assumed he was just another one of Esdese's pets. Another toy she would play with until it broke. Then to be discarded without a second thought while she started looking for her next plaything. It was nothing new. The fact that she took him with her everywhere she went didn't help.

Having lost him two times already Esdese had been absolutely determined to not let him out of her sight. Especially since she regarded his defection to Night raid and the revolutionary army to be a direct result of letting him escape her clutches. She was convinced that if he had not escaped, she could have perished his foolish ideals from him before he had gone and made the whole situation so much more troublesome. So no matter if she was leading military campaigns, directing the jaegers or scaring away political oppositions, Tatsumi had been forced to always be in her direct presence. It had taken almost five months until she even allowed him to go more than a hundred meters away from her.

His reputation as her latest toy was somewhat diminished later on. When an officer made the mistake of treating Tatsumi as a regular footsoldier. He had been given a menial task of fetching a couple of maps from a drawer at a meeting Esdese was attending. Tatsumi had then happened to pick the wrong set of maps and the officer had slapped him across the face and yelled at him when he arrived with the maps to the table. Unfortunately for the man, Esdese had been standing right at the other side of the table when he choose to discipline what he thought to be a simple subordinate.

She had allowed the officer to keep his rank. If only so that he could serve as an example. The doctors said that he would be limping on his right leg for the rest of his life and all the best dentist of the empire had not been able to fix his teeth and jaw back to presentable condition. Nowadays, the man rarely smiled since he didn't want to expose the splinters that now were his teeth and his diet mainly consisted of soups and other soft dishes. A shell of what he once was.

Esdese had intended to leave him in a much more deformed state but Tatsumi had managed to stop it by begging her while he tried to cling to the hand that was administering the punishment. Horrified by the unproportionate response a meager slap across his face had begotten the officer. The fact that the room had been full of military personnel that didn't even say a word to try and stop her disgusted him. It also made him realize just how careful he has to be with his position. It didn't help with Tatsumi's remorse when he later received a letter from said officer, thanking him for reducing his punishment.

That incident had gotten somewhat well known and after that, most parts of the military had started to stay far away from him. The higher-ups kept their reservations about the former Night raid member, though. Spearheaded by the great general Budo who took every chance he could to denounce Esdese's partner as untrustworthy.

So the rumors about him were a bit more varied these days and the noblemen seemed to have quite a lot of different opinions on him. Few of them charming. But he didn't care at all. He kept his back straight as he walked out through the great doors.

Esdese watched her lover leave the great hall and listened with pride to the noblemen's whisperings. It was the same treatment she had received when she rose to power and she couldn't wait to see Tatsumi reach the same heights.

"Case number seventy-five, step forward." The old minister called out.

_And now back to this hell_, Esdese thought. At least now, she had something to look forward to after this monotonous meeting. She closed her eyes and leaned back into the huge chair with a blissful sigh. Fantasizing about all the things she would do to her Tatsumi when this was over.

She didn't even notice that the general beside her was watching her with a rather sly grin. _Interesting_, Makeias thought. _Very interesting. I will have to arrange a meeting with this Tatsumi later._

He then returned to staring at the wall on the opposite side of the hall. Slowly, mentally lulling himself back to a more trance-like state.

* * *

Tatsumi heaved a huge sigh as waves of relief washed over him when he walked out into the huge corridor outside the hall. It seemed that no one had discovered any of the preparations while he was gone. He thought he had seen hints of anger in Esdese's face but he might have been mistaken. Or at least, she hadn't found out anything too grave. This meant that everything was proceeding smoothly.

He started to walk towards the jaeger quarters. Looking forward to a chance to meet with Wave again. The people he met along the walk saluting him. Even if the opinion of him within the empire differed quite a bit, his status as a jaeger had become universally accepted. And that rank granted him a big deal of authority.

He stretched his shoulders as he strolled through the castle halls. His whole body was sore since his journey but if no one had realized what he had actually been doing during these last three weeks then it was all worth it.

When Esdese had finally granted his request he had already been preparing and planning what to do during these weeks for almost four months. He knew that he could only remain away from the capital for so long before his absence would start to get attention. He had finished the mission Esdese had given him in three days. After that, it had been a really busy time. Now it was all done, though. Almost all of the preparations were done. Soon he would start a plan that had been eighteen months in the making.

He would be more excited about it if he wasn't so tired. These past weeks had taken their toll on his sleep and he had been working non-stop. He just wanted to go to Esdese's room, crawl up into her huge bed and sleep. If the aura Esdeath had emitted during his report was any indicator, though, he would not be able to get any sleep for some time still.

He was actually a bit worried about that. He had been away from her for almost two weeks on earlier occasions and every time their reunions had put quite a strain on him. He also usually received rather generous amounts of pain. This time, he had been gone for almost twenty-two days and he was not exactly at the pinnacle of his physical condition right now.

He needed to find a way to soften the impact of her love this time or the entire palace would hear his screams. He didn't know if his dignity could survive that again. He had learned how to work around most of her different... dispositions. Though if she really put her mind to something it was still hard for him to put up any worthwhile resistance against her. He feared that this was one of those times.

He was brought out of his ponderings as he arrived at the main dining room of the jaegers.

He opened the door to only find the big room deserted. He scratched his head as he thought about where the others could be. All regular patrols should have been over now. So it seemed that they had been given a more specific task. As the revolutionary forces had slowly been subdued and destroyed more over the past two years, the jaegers tasks had become a lot more directed to internal problems. Dealing with spies, murderers and giving protection to certain events had almost become a routine. So it was hard to guess where they were right now.

He sighed. He had been looking forward to meeting Wave again. He had grown to really like the young man during his time in the empire. One of the few members of the imperial army that he wasn't trying to bring ruin to. He would even go so far as to regard him as a friend.

_When did I get to that point?_ ,Tatsumi thought. Introspecting while he started walking towards Esdese's quarters to change from his dusty and dirty clothes. When had he actually started to not dislike the company of the jaegers? He had even learned to enjoy Esdese's company, somewhere along the road. In the beginning of their relationship, he had been so utterly controlled by her that he had basically just been her property in anything but name. However, that had slowly changed and he had come to accept parts of her more and more.

He wouldn't say that he returned the immense feelings of love the woman had for him but he had, in fact, started to... appreciate her love on some deeper level than the plain physical rewards of being her lover. Even though there were still parts of her that he never thought he would be able to understand or relate to. Parts of her that he still despised with his entire being.

He had many times considered if he was suffering from some sort of capture-bonding syndrome. Since he still hated parts of her.

When he had laid out his plans he had actually found himself somewhat relieved that Esdese was so unbelievably powerful. That meant that he could pit her against any opponent in the future without even having to consider the moral dilemma of sending his lover to her death. In fact, many parts of his plans depended on her strength and her survivalist ideals.

He knew that she would only do the bare minimum required of her to halt the oncoming chaos he was about to put in motion. She would actually enjoy the anarchy that was coming. It would supply her with droves of new capable enemies and plenty of new toys to play with. And as she would thrive in the internal conflicts of the empire she would also inadvertently help him destroy it.

"Soon now. Time to run the ships ashore." He said as he smiled bitterly. Walking with his hands behind his head.

"Why is that?" Wave asked from behind him.

Tatsumi jumped into the air with a loud "Aahhh!" escaping his mouth against his will.

"Damn it, Wave. If I die from a heart attack, then Esdese will flay you alive!" Tatsumi threatened. His heart beating inhumanely fast. His mind racing in fear. He had almost revealed something important there. "How did you manage to sneak up on me like that?"

"I wasn't sneaking, to be completely honest. You were just too deep in your thoughts" The blue haired youth smiled encouragingly at him. "And, if you don't mind me saying it, you look like you have seen better days."

"Yeah,I have missed you too, dear friend!" Tatsumi spat back as he tried to calm down. Gods be good! He needed to be more careful. His lack of sleep was affecting him more than he had originally expected.

"When did you get so jumpy, though, Tatsumi. Has these last weeks been that hard on you." Wave teased. Tatsumi took a deep breath to steady himself as he looked at his friend.

Wave hadn't changed that much since the first time they met. He had let his hair grow a little longer but it was a small difference. He had also gotten a scar some centimeters under his right eye that trailed backward on his face but it didn't look to bad. He also usually carried a short stubble but Tatsumi had a feeling that was more a question of laziness then a choice of style.

"I will have you know that my mission was a complete success. Unlike your last little trip outside of the capital." Tatsumi said with a proud smile.

"That is unfair and you know it. I was given the wrong intel from the start." Wave defended vehemently. Even more so since if they counted that one as a failure, then Tatsumi would be ahead of him in successful personal missions now. "The general agreed that I was not at fault there."

"Did not stop you from groveling at her feet when you gave your report." Tatsumi said with wry smile.

"Give me a break." Wave said. shaking a hand in front of him. "If I had caught her in a worse mood she might have said that I should have realized my intel was false. I have spent enough time in the torture chambers already. While some people only gets hugs and kisses when they return."

Wave saw a shadow fall over Tatsumi's face at those last words. Sensing that he might have stepped on something that was already hurting. He backtracked. "What? A lovers quarrel at last? Tell me, man."

They walked together through the corridors towards Tatsumi's destination while he confided in his friend. Wave had actually been very supportive of his "relationship troubles" in the past. Most other people didn't have much sympathy for Tatsumi's position since he had been spared torture and death and instead been given the love of the beautiful ice queen.

However, Wave knew that Esdese was more a force of nature than anything else. He had actually believed that Esdese would slowly strangle the life out of Tatsumi just by being so extremely different from him morally and also just by nature. Wave had assumed that Tatsumi would break before he bent and that Esdese was going to force one of those outcomes. However, Tatsumi had prevailed so far and Wave was going to try and help him in whatever little way he could.

"Well, to postpone your reunion only seems to worsen the situation. So I don't think that is a good choice. Not now when she knows you have returned to the capital." Wave said. Grabbing his chin while they walked through the empty corridor.

"Ohh, you think so." Tatsumi said sarcastically with his hands in his pockets. The truth was that Tatsumi hadn't reported directly to Esdese directly because he wanted to buy some time to send away some messages. That was why he had gone to the open assembly. So that she only would know that he had returned some hours later when the rumors reached her. Those hopes were thwarted, though, as Esdese had been attending the assembly herself. Why had she even been there in the first place?

"It's worse than you think."

"Hmm?" Tatsumi raised an eyebrow at Wave.

"I was actually quite relieved to see you walking towards the jaeger's quarters earlier. The commander's pent-up frustration has gotten some rather ugly discharges this last week." Wave said. He looked around to affirm that they were alone before continuing. Tatsumi kept silent. Fearing what was to come.

"Rumors are that things have gotten quite savage down in the torture chambers these last days." Wave said in a hushed voice. "Esdese has taken to lock groups of condemned prisoners in a room and then just walk in there alone without any tools or weapons. Beating them to death with her bare hands. Making the other ones in the room wait their turn while she tears their cellmates to pieces. Unable to escape the room or her."

Tatsumi drew a deep breath and stared down at the floor. He didn't want to hear this but he needed to know the full consequences brought forth by his actions.

"Yeah. I know" Wave said as he watched the obviously troubled boy. "Even the torture masters have been scared of her. Since one of the torturers that tried oppose her new more savage practices was thrown into the room with the rest of the prisoners."

Tatsumi was unsure of how he should react to this. The torturer getting killed was nothing but a good riddance. The rest of the prisoners though... He wasn't sure this was the worst outcome for them.

When Tatsumi first had become Esdese's partner she had forced him to go with her wherever she went. Even the torture chambers. He had seen what she was capable of doing to people with the right tools and drugs at her disposal.

The first couple of times he had tried to stop her.

Resorting to try with violence and force since he wasn't getting anywhere with his words. But at that time he was not allowed to carry a weapon. Much less a teigu. Not that Esdese cared but he was deemed a liability to other soldiers at that time. Though even if he had wielded Incursio the result would still have been the same. He was quickly wrestled down and when it became apparent that he was not going to calm down she simply chained him into one of the torture benches until she was done with her victims. Then she released Tatsumi and took him with her.

After a couple of times he stopped trying. Putting himself in the corner of whatever room Esdese had chosen. Trying to shut out all sound by covering up his ears while silently weeping.

Esdese had not liked the effects the torture chambers were having on Tatsumi though. One time when she was getting especially creative with two small siblings, Tatsumi had actually thrown up his breakfast when he did the mistake of looking over his shoulder. It was at that time that Esdese decided that that would not do.

He needed to be hardened to these kind of things if he was going to survive in the world with her but this was most certainly the wrong way to do it. Every time she went to the torture chambers after that she first took her time to tenderly wrap up Tatsumi in more chains and bindings than he could carry before placing him under competent guards in the vicinity of the chambers. Close enough so that she could still feel his presence. But Tatsumi still had to listen to the screams.

If there had been a single time when he could have broken mentally, it would have been one of those times, Tatsumi knew. He was actually quite aware that those times had changed him. Jaded him in ways he did not care for. Yet he did endure and soon the entire empire would reap the fruits of his resilience.

"I guess there is not much for it." Tatsumi said. "If she is abandoning all the finesse and techniques that she prides herself on in her favorite pastime, then she must be getting dangerously pent-up. I think I will just have to accept my fate before things get even worse."

"Yeah, I can't think of anything. Sorry, man but I think that if I tried to distract her away from you, this time, I would just be playing with fire."

Tatsumi sighed. "It's okay, Wave. Sooner or later Esdese usually gets what she wants."

"Oh, by the way." Wave pulled forth a small piece of rolled up paper. "An old homeless lady came to me on my standard patrol this morning. She told me to give this to you. It's a thank you letter. Apparently you saved her son sometime in the past."

Tatsumi took the note and unrolled it. Inside was a long thank you message written with coal. Tatsumi pretty quickly realized that this was the hidden message that he had been waiting for today. He had written and received many of these hidden codes so he was able to decipher it with relative ease as they walked.

"Your return was observed this morning.

Since you have not contacted us, we are proceeding under the assumption that everything has gone according to plan.

The operation is going live in two days."

"You know, messages like that is really what keeps you going." Wave said. Oblivious to the true meaning of the message. "Makes you feel that all the bullshit is actually worth it."

"Yeah" Tatsumi smiled. "Sometimes people actually get what they deserve" he said as he threw the letter into a fireplace they passed by.

"If you just wait long enough"


	2. Running the ships ashore

**Running the ships ashore.**

When Tatsumi finally arrived at Esdese's quarters, almost 3 hours had passed since he left her in the assembly hall. He and Wave had gotten lost in their discussions and went for a longer walk than he had first intended. Wave had been curious about Tatsumis mission and had also been eager to share his worries about Kurome. Wave had held an affection for the girl for as long as Tatsumi had known him but was constantly worried about her mental state these days. Tatsumi did not share this affection with him but he still tried to help his friend whenever he could.

Not that he despised the girl. Ever since he first arrived in the capital a long time ago he had been enjoying the company of murderers, killers and assassins. When you look at it's core, thats all that Night raid ever was as well. However, Tatsumi had always put in his moral guidelines at the intentions and reasons why these deeds were done.

Thats is why he originally had come to despise the jaegers. They killed and destroyed in order to maintain the empire and by extension they therefore supported the horrors that the empire made into a reality. However, he had come to find out that this was not the case in all situations. Many of the people who served the empire came from poverty and had mouths to feed at home. Others fought to gain promised protection for those they loved. In a few cases, he had even found people that worked within the empire in order to make it a better place. And to some, it was just another job.

As far as Tatsumi could tell, Kurome belonged in the latter category. It was no doubt that she was unstable mentally. Wishing to kill her sister was not something all to new or shocking for Tatsumi since Akame had shared the same intention but there was something about the way Kurome handled the issue. She seemed to long for the day she could kill Akame and make her a part of her monstrous collection. So that they could be together again. He had considered trying to talk to Esdese about Kurome's mental state but Wave had told him not to. Fearing the outcome of the scenario.

Not that Tatsumi thought that she would care. For all that could be said about her, Esdese did not judge people for their diffrent quirks or kinks.

"Are you sure it would not be a good thing to exclude her from all the fighting then?" Tatsumi asked. "I mean, it sure as hell doesn't seem to be doing her any good. She actually might not have the resolve to withstand the work as a jaeger after all."

"Yeah, cause some people just go on completly unaffected after watching their friends die." Wave said sarcastically.

Tatsumi simple nodded towards the sign atop of the barracks they were passing. Esdese's insignia deeply carved into the wood. Marking the barracks as a station for her troops.

"The commander would not try to aid, help and protect us if she didn't have any regards for our lives." Wave defended. "You are being to harsh on her."

That almost made Tatsumi laugh. The concept of being too harsh on the ice queen seemed completly otherwordly to him. Wave noticed his reaction though.

"Just because she doesn't let her comrade's deaths affect her doesn't mean that she doesn't care about us." He went on.

"I have a feeling that she just knows that if you treat your subordinates well they will work harder for you." Tatsumi countered. "And Esdese doesn't have any comrades. Only subordinates and pets"

"And a very grumpy lover, it would seem." Wave said. Teasingly trying to lighten the mood a little bit.

Tatsumi simply smiled and shook his head. "Anyway, Kurome?" He said, returning to topic.

"I can't take her away from the fighting. That is the only way she knows how to live. And if she stops her career as a warrior they might actually take her teigu from her. Then she will collapse entirely. She draws a lot of strength and emotional stability from the belief that she still has all her friends around her." Wave said. His voice filled with desperation.

"You know as well as I that those friends are nothing more than shadows and memories. You must make her realize this sooner or later. Even if it may crush her." Tatsumi answered. "And we both know that there is only one end awaiting those who can only define themselves by fighting." He concluded bluntly.

When he looked over to see the sadness on his friends face, Tatsumi felt that he might be letting his bitterness get the better of him. He put his hand on Wave's shoulder and squeezed it lightly.

"We will find a way to solve this, Wave. We just have to keep thinking until we find a solution. Until then, all you can do is to try and protect her." he said. Trying to sound wiser than he was.

It seemed to have worked though. A smile returned to his friend's face."Yeah, it would seem like I got my work cut out for me." Wave said with a little more energy as they finally started to come close to their original destination.

"We both do. It seems like I now have to face my own walk to the gallows" he said as they closed in on the huge doors that led to Esdese's personal quarters.

"Hey, I have an idea. If we got a party going on the floors under and above of this one then nobody would hear what was going on in these chambers tonight." Wave exclaimed.

"Well, that doesn't really save me from the experience."

"No, but then you can just bite the pillows and weather it out and nobody will be any wiser" Wave said. Suddenly quite excited about his new idea.

"Wave, the only ones who live on the higher levels are the highest ministers in the country and below us is where the imperial guard resides." Tatsumi said. Not sure if he liked his friends phrasing on that last sentence.

"Even the imperial guard must relax at times. I actually have som goodwill from them since my last two personal missions was about aiding them." the other boy said. "If I get some musicians to attend it we might even get some of the ministers to come down in curiosity." Wave proclaimed hopefully. "This is going to be great."

Tatsumi felt that this suddenly was less about him and his problems and more about something else. "Well, anyway, this is my stop." He said as he stopped in front of a set of extravagant doors. Esdese's insignia engraved on top of both doors in beautiful black metal.

Wave patted him on the back enthusiastically. "Good luck,man. My thoughts will go with you. Now I must hurry as well. I have a lot of things that I need to work out before the evening comes."

"See you later, Wave." Tatsumi said with genuine fondness as he watched his friend run down the corridor.

_Ok, lets do this!_ ,Tatsumi thought. Mustering up whatever energy he had left. Chances were that the assembly was over and that she were already in her quarters. In which case she would know that he was standing outside the doors. Only waiting for him to enter.

He did his usual routine. He took a couple of deep breaths. Steadying himself while stretching his arms and neck. Trying to focus in on a mental image.

_She has helped me get much stronger than I once was. She has saved me from rape and I would be dead many times over if it wasn't for her.,_Tatsumi thought. _Her subordinates adore her and she takes good care of her soldiers. Even going so far as punishing those who tries to denounce them within the empire._

Focusing on those parts of Esdese that he genuinly appreciated, he steeled himself for what was to come. He didn't need to think about the other half of her character. Not now. Now he needed to get through this in one piece. He thought one last time about the letter Wave had given him and drew joy from it while he put his hand on the doorknob and entered Esdese's quarters.

* * *

On the huge grass plains to the far east of of the capital, a solitary creature could be seen bounding through the fields. Moving at a speed far faster than what any normal animal was capable of. Only touching the ground every twenty meters or so. Leaving a deep footprint into the ground everytime it did. It's destination was just a few hundred meters infront of it now. A slightly concealed camp, consisting of two tents and a fire. Hidden in the cover of a pair of fallen trees. Two figures could be seen sitting by the fire.

Unknowing of the incoming creature.

When the fast moving beast only had forty meters left, it planted both its feet into the ground and launched itself high into the air. Landing with a crash into the middle of the camp. Right in front of the two campers. Making one of them let out a feminin shriek, while the other fell over backwards from the suprise.

"If you can't even notice me when I am coming at you with full velocity then you won't last long if you have to go up against one of the jaegers." Leone smiled a teasing, confident smile as she rose up from the small crater her landing had created. "Try to be more perceptive won't you? Otherwise I will have to worry about you."

"Leone!" The young woman shouted angrily. Rising up from her sitting position, her brown eyes filled with rage. She had long brown hair reaching a good bit beyond her shoulders and wore civilaian clothes. A long bow strapped around her back and a knife fastened around her thigh. While she doesn't stand out much, she is rather cute. In a plain sort of way. Leon thought, as she dismissed Lionelle. Slowly changing back to her normal appearance. "Ohh, did I disrupt your precious time with your boyfriend, Maria? Sorry!

The young agent of the revolutiounary army did not let her superiors teasing faze her,however. "That was very unprofessionell of you. We were told you were the only one who would know we were here."

"Yeah and you snuffed out our fire with your landing." Rori shouted as he finally managed to get back on his feet. The boy also wore civil clothing and had short yellow hair and blue eyes. He was a bit more muscular than he had been last time Leone had seen him. He must have spent a lot of time training. Leone thought. Probably to look good for Maria. He seemed to have left the spear that was his usual weapon back in the tents though.

"No matter."Leone said waving a hand infront of her. " We are moving out immediately. Get your things ready."

Immediately her juniors started packing their things and closing down their tents.

Still two diffrent tents to sleep in though, Leone thought. I know whats going on between you two so why do you try so hard to keep up appearances for me?

Her cute litte subordinates. Night raid had since almost 12 months now changed the way they conducted a huge part of their operations. Nowadays they usually worked closer with the revolutionary army. Since the revolutionary army had been terribly decimated during these last year the forces that remained had become much more valuable. So Night raid often found themselves helping larger forces from the shadows or leading small strike teams of revolutionary soldier into more difficult missions. During easier one-man missions they were usually assigned some competent agents from the army. Meant to help them with more menial tasks while the agents got to learn and get better themselves.

Leone had hated the idea at first. She had almost always imagined herself as more of a lone wolf when it came to these type of tasks. But sure enough, after a little while she had gotten quite fond of her two attendants. She had even helped the young man confess his love to Maria. Playing the youths into each other arms while happily watching as their love blossomed under her care.

Leone was brought back from her reminiscing when the young boy,Rori, asked her a question.

"What are we setting out for,Leone? We weren't told anything beyond where we would meet up with you." he asked while putting down his tent.

"Najenda has sent us to investigate one of our old hideouts that we no longer use." she answered. "An ex-member of the Night raid was seen lurking about it two and a half weeks ago."

"Anyone we would know of?" Maria said as she finished up her packing. Finished a great deal of time before Rori, as usual.

"Tatsumi of the jaegers." Leone asnwered in a voice bereft of emotions.

"Ahh,so we are going to catch Tatsumi" Rori said with enthusiasm. " So that he can be brought to the revolutionary army."

"No Rori." She answered calmly. Not meeting the young mans gaze. "Have you forgotten? We are assasins. Not slavers."

The young man stopped his packing, turning around to her. Leone kept her gaze on the huge fields infront of them. Not looking at either of them.

"Excuse me for stepping out of line commander... but are you sure your okay with this?" Rori finally said.

_Thick-headed lilttle boy!_ ,Leone thought. "He burned all his chances of redemption with us when he choose to give one of us to the ice bitch" she answered. Her voice now held a small hint of anger. "It's one thing to stop fighting. Another to stab those that used to protect you in the back."

"Leone.." Maria said, rising up. She had sat down to help Rori to pack his stuff when she thought Leone wasn't watching. Trying to help him look good infront of their commander. The cute gesture had not gone unnoticed by Leone but her mood was way to foul to be cheered up by it rigth now.

She sighed. " Well, thats what the general consensus is anyway. I'm not quite so sure myself. Anyway, we have mainly been sent there to scout." She turned to her attendants with a gentle smile. "Lets play it by ear, shall we?"

"Yes,commander!" they answered in unison.

"Now get back to packing." she said. Her usual vigour returning to her voice. "We are leaveing in five minutes. I plan to be at the old hideout tomorrow afternoon. If you slow me down, you will regret it." she said. Sounding a lot more upbeat.

"Of course!" They answered in unison,once again. Quickly returning to packing the last of Rori's stuff.

Leone turned to watch the sky. _I guess we will just have to see what has become of you Tatsumi_,she tought. Bringing forth the hope she had been hiding deep inside her for so long.

Maybe. Just maybe, this could still be fixed.

* * *

To Tatsumi's suprise Esdese's chambers were actually not as deserted as usual. Three deliverymen were in the process of carrying ,what Tatsumi assumed to be,a wrapped up painting into one of the rooms when he entered. He was about to greet them but he stopped when he heard a sound from the corridors behind him. What could have been mistaken for the sound of a gust of wind for a less trained ear made him try to turn as fast as he could. Bur he didn't manage to turn around before she smashed into him from behind.

Esdese had met Wave as she was heading towards the jaeger's quarters. She had stopped the young man and he had told her that Tatsumi was in her chambers already. He had not been able to ask her about the imperial guard's stand on leisure activities since she had darted out of his sight before he could even start his question. She had then accelerated to a speed few in the capital could hope to match. Flying up the stairs and through the long corridors. And then he was there. At long last. She didn't even bother with trying to stop her speed. Simply flying into the boy from behind. Wrapping her arms around his chest.

Tatsumi let out a "Oooooff" as the impact knocked the air from his lungs. He planted his feet in the floor in an attempt to stop her momentum. Leaving long ugly marks across the beautiful floor as he drove his boots into it. He managed to not fall over but when they finally came to a halt, their braking distance had taken them through a pair of already open doors and into Esdeath's personal study.

Tatsumi breathed out as he tried to straighten up a bit with her still grabbing him from behind.

"Esdese." He said tentativly. Unsure of what was to come. The only answer he got was something between a hiss and a snarl in his right ear before he was lifted off the ground. She pressed their bodies together so hard that Tatsumi thought she was going to break some of his ribs. She pressed her face into the hair at the upper back of his head, taking deep breaths. Filling her lungs with his smell once again.

_Finally! Everything is right with the world again_, Esdese thought as she continued to breath in her lover's smell.

Tatsumi saw her white long coat sway forward at his sides from behind him. Which meant that she probably was coming directly from the assembly, he concluded as his own body was bending back and forth as her chest rose and fell with her deep breaths. Speaking of breathing, he was completly unable to. Her grip was so constricting that she was pressing all the air out of his body.

He tried to speak but all he could get out was a hiss. He started to slap the side of her stomach in an attempt to get her attention. To no awail. He was starting to feel all strength leave his body when she finally loosened her grip. Allowing his feet to touch the floor again. He was thankful that she didn't let him go though, since he would probably fall over at this point.

"You will never leave me alone for so long ever again" she growled into his hair. She sounded angry but Tatsumi had a feeling that was not the case. This agressivness was driven forth by another part of her more primal nature. Frankly, a little part of him actually wished that she was just angry with him.

"So I guess the assembly is over already." He said, feeling dizzy from the lack of oxygen.

"No. There is still more than a hundred reports left." She said in a exasperated voice."I have to return to it in a minute. I thought that knowing that I could have you with me when I was done would make this ordeal easier. It didn't." Her voice turning bitter at her last words. "If anything, it makes my wait even more unbearable."

_YES!_, Tatsumi thought. Now he could get a couple hours of rest before she came and _claimed_ him tonight. He was almost about to tease her about how the empire's strongest warrior couldn't handle a simple meeting but quickly thought better of it. If she was as pent-up as it seemed, he would have to tread carefully. Inviting her more playful sides to come out at this point could be a grave mistake.

"I will still be here when you return" he said as warmly as he was able to. He grabbed one of the arms that was tangled around him and squeezed it.

She didn't answer but simply buried her nose in the side of his neck while slithering her arms in under his shirt. Wrapping his ,to her arms naked, upper body in their strong embrace.

"Excuse me, where should we put the painting?" A nervous voice called out from the door. Tatsumi felt how Esdese's head slowly rose from where his neck and shoulder connected and turned to look at the source of the disturbance. She felt like a viper rising to strike.

Tatsumi decided to intervene before anything happened. He turned his head the best he could in her embrace and looked at the young deliveryman standing in the doorway. The boy was already sweating heavily so Tatsumi assumed that Esdeath wasn't exactly smiling at him from behind his back.

"Ahh, take it in here! If this piece of art managed to catch Esdese's attention then I have to see it." He said with a happy voice. Trying to send the boy a reassuring grin.

The young deliveryman took his chance and quickly disappeared into the other room, shouting at his co-workers turn around.

"I didn't get it though. It's just some gift from yet another nobleman." she said. Returning her nose to his hair. "Trying to get on my good side, no doubt."

"It must be hard to be so popular."

"I would be more impressed if a footsoldier came walking over from the barracks to confess to me" she said. Her long fingers starting to slowly draw circles on the skin under Tatsumi's arms. "Then I would at least praise him for getting past all of the imperial guards. Though admittedly, both attempts would get the same result."

The three deliverymen hurriedly walked in with the painting. Putting it up against one of the bookshelves. Then retreating out of the room after having quickly uncovered it.

Both of them turned their eyes to the painting.

"Nope!" Tatsumi exclaimed.

"Ohh yes!" Esdese answered.

The painting delivered portayed them both in rather... daring scenario.

"I want to put it somewhere were a lot of people can see it." Esdese said giddly. "I might actually have to thank the nobleman for this gift."

"Are you kidding me?! Or do you want me to be the laughing stock of everyone who ever walks into our chambers?" Tatsumi argued determinately.

"What are you talking about, Tatsumi? You look quite.. adorable in this painting if you ask me." Esdese calmly answered. Tatsumi could almost feel her smile behind him.

"At least you got to wear some goddam clothes in it! You have your entire uniform on you." Tatsumi responded.

"Well, you do have that elegant collar on you." she answered while giggling. "But I already knew that you looked good in collar and leash." she continued while her smile grew a bit larger.

"I thought that you were a possesive kind of lover. Not the kind to share the sights that are reserved for you with the entire world." Tatsumi said. Trying a diffrent strategy.

"It isn't that revealing, Tatsumi. My left leg is obscuring your more private parts."

"Do I actually have tears on my face in this? I do, don't I?"

"Yes. Yes you do. I must compliment the artist on this one." she said. Hur voice growing a bit more husky. "I say we hang it up in the entrance hall."

"I look like a bitch!" Tatsumi said. Growing desperate.

"No, you look like my bitch. There is a huge diffrence." Esdese answered in a sweet voice.

"We're burning it."

"Oh are we?" Her voice growing dangerously soft as her arms once again tightened around his body. She moved her mouth to his right ear. "And who is gonna stop me from hanging it up? You, my dear sweet little Tatsumi?" she whispered into his ear. Her nails suddenly digging into his skin.

Only now did Tatsumi realize that he had inadvertently pushed her a little bit. He had actually enjoyed their banter so much that he had forgotten to be careful.

"Who was it that eventually came over to me, my love? Which one of us was it that eventuelly bent to other? Who was it that let his friends go in order to become mine?"

Tatsumi tensed. To Esdese, Tatsumi's betrayal of Night raid was one of her happiest memories. The moment when her love finally reached him. When she finally got him. Unbeknownst to Esdeath, the reason Tatsumi had caved in had been more based in desperate strategic thinking than her affection. It had simply been his final try to do some damage to the empire.

Esdese did ,however, know that Tatsumi was not proud of his betrayal and hated to talk about it. So out of consideration for her lover she rarely did. So now,when she was not only mentioning it but pretty much shoving it in his face, Tatsumi knew, that it could only mean one thing.

She was challenging him. Normally she wouldn't try to push him this far in these kind of scenarios. Normally she would have destroyed the painting herself if it bothered him.

No, this was not about the painting. She wanted him to lash out in some way. She wanted a chance to assert her possessiv dominance over him again. In whatever ways Tatsumi dared not imagine. He once again realized that he had been away from her for far too long. He needed to backtrack. Now.

He slowly started to stroke his head backward towards the side of her face. Slowly nestling into her. It took a moment but then she started to return the movements. Stroking and snuggling against his neck and ear. Tatsumi felt a little bit relieved.

"Who was it, that in my bed, finally gave me the name of his former girlfriend, Tatsumi?"

_Enough_, Tatsumi thought.

"Alright, alright, alright." he said tiredly. "You win, as always. Put the damn painting wherever you want it."

"Spoilsport" she said." We will put in our bedroom then. It's rare for anyone else to be there but the two of us."

"Yeah, now only all the maids and cleaning personnel will be spreading rumors about me and what hangs by our bed." Tatsumi said with a bitter voice.

"Do you also care about what the ants you walk on are talking about?" she asked him as her left arm came out from under his shirt to run it's fingers through his hair.

"Aren't you going to be late to the assembly?" Tatsumi sighed.

"Yeah, you are right. I should be leaving." Esdese said with a hint of sadness as she slowly raised her head from his shoulder. "One more thing though."

Tatsumi did not have time to react as the hand that was stroking his hair moved down and drew away the collar of his shirt. Then with lightning speed she sunk her teeth into his right side, where his shoulder and neck connected.

"WhaaAAIIHEE!" Tatsumi was for the third time that day unable to hold down his voice. This time was the worst one yet though. This was no little playbite. He felt her teeth sink into his flesh. Drawing blood which her tongue greedily licked up. Tatsumi immediatly started squirming but her one arm under his shirt held his body in place and her other arm stopped both of his own from flailing around with ease. He pushed his head against hers in a violent mimicking of their earlier snuggling.

After a second or two she pulled her teeth out of him. But she kept her mouth on his wound. Loudly gulping down his blood until it stopped pouring out of him. Finally after minute and a half she let him go for the first time since she tackled him into their chambers. Tatsumi took a step from her and turned around.

"Gods, what was that for?!" he shouted at her.

Her hand reached out and grabbed his shirt. She pulled him in and kissed his already half open mouth. Shoving her tongue down his throat. Tasumi could feel the taste of his own blood invading his mouth. They stayed like that for some seconds before Esdese finally pulled back.

"Have you gone and become a vampire in my abscence or something?" Tatsumi cried out.

"Not really, no." Esdese said. Smiling while licking her lips. " You have been away from me for so long. So I felt a really strong urge to mark you in some way."

"This again." Tatsumi said, while clasping his new wound with one of his hands.

"I will be returning later this evening." She said while adjusting her cap. She put a finger under his chin, lifting his face up so that their eyes met. "I will expect you to be here then, Tatsumi."

"I will. If you take too long I might be asleep though. I haven't slept in a bed for weeks." he said. Obediently meeting her gaze. This was no time for meaningless disobedience.

"No worries. I will wake you up." she said. Smiling at him in an almost threatning way. Then she turned around and started walking out of the room.

"I still need to go and turn in my written report to the archives though. So I might be gone for an hour or so." he said. Looking at her back.

"We both have duties to fulfill, Tatsumi. But I would advise you to not leave me waiting for too long." She turned around as she opened one of the huge doors out to the corridor. "You can put my copy of it on the desk over there. I will read it tomorrow."

With that she closed the door and was gone.

Tatsumi fell to his knees as the mere pressure of her presence faded away.

Just meeting her for the first time in a long while was enough to reminded him of his biggest problem.

Her.

To him she was just a very agressive and possesive lover with sadistic tendencies. But to the rest of the world she was one of the biggest monsters known to man. She commited genocide, not by orders but with her own hands. She found joyfull glee in "playing" with and destroying other people.  
To her everyone alive just another mean for her to have her horrible fun. Everyone but him.

If everything went well the empire would burn to the ground in the months to come. She would be helping it to fall apart by just being herself.

But Tatsumi was well aware that when the ashes settled, she would probably still be standing. She would still embody every reason why the empire needed to fall.

And he still wasn't sure of what he would do when that time came.

* * *

"You mean to say that my rank means nothing in this matter." Wave said angrily to the lady behind the desk.

His plans to save Tatsumi from any shame had appeared to be a lot more difficult to pull off than he had originally appreciated. When he had inquired to the captain who had responsibility over the barracks under Esdese's quarters he had asked Wave for the proper papers and admissions. Wave had of course not anticipated that it would require four diffrent approvals from four diffrent authorities. Each single one a challenge to get. To do it within the timelimit he had been given seemed almost impossible.

He had been standing in three diffrent ques in three diffrent instituitions and he still had not even got the chance to meet a single one of the people whose approvals he needed. He had been at it for almost three hours now.

The most annoying part of it was that the captain of the barracks and his men had all recognized Wave from the missions they had shared. Their faces had lit up when he mentioned a chance to party and relax but they fell just as quickly when he made it clear that he didn't have anyones permissions yet. They needed this just as much as Tatsumi, Wave thought. He just needed to get through all this damn bureaucracy.

"No, sir. As I said before, the security manager of the northern barracks is a very busy man. You will have to make an appointment. And even if you do talk to him it will probably take a week or so before he would be able to look into your case and approve of it."

This was the fouth time he was denied. The fourth time he had left empty handed. He needed to find a way though. Tatsumi depended on him. His friends in the imperial guard depended on him. He needed to solve this. He needed to find a way!

To party. For everyone's sake.

He was not gonna back away that easy this time. He was a jaeger. Working directly under Esdeath. He could not let some simple standards and procedures stop him. His commander would understand, he prayed as he straightened up.

"Listen here, I am a member of the jaegers and if I don't get to meet the manager I might-"

"Ohh.. What is going on over here?" A deep, relaxed voice came from behind Wave. Wave managed to see the secretay's jaw drop as he turned around.

Behind him loomed the bulk of a huge man with a humongous belly and a wild white beard.

Wave immediatel bowed as deep as he could. "Prime minister, my apologies! I was too caught up in my disscusion. I did not notice you."

The older man let out a slow and deep laugh. " At ease, lad. I'm just out for a stroll. Wave of the jaegers,was it?" His voice was warm and fatherly.

"Yes, sir!" Wave said. It did not escape him that the room that was earlier filled with people was now empty.

"Well then, young man. Why don't you walk with me for a bit? I would enjoy some company."

"Sir, I don't think I could do that without telling you that me and your late son did not.. get along to well. I'm very sorry" He bowed again.

The prime minister was silent for a second or two but then he answered in an almost humble tone. "The past is in the past. Regret it as we may. Don't worry about it."

"Sir?" Wave said. Unsure about what was going on. He had heard from many diffrent sources that the prime minister was a vile and corruptive creature. Power hungry with a complete disregard for the well-being of anyone but himself. However, this was the first time Wave had seen the man and so far the man did not fit the rumors.

"Come now, young man. Walk with me and tell me about what troubles the youth these days!" The large man said while gently gripping Waves shoulder. Tugging him away to the long corridors of the castle.

After a bit of hesitation Wave finally told his new walking partner of what he was trying to do. Taking great care to emitt Tatsumi from the story.

".. so I thought it would be a great idea to boost morale with the troops, sir. I must admit though, that my plans have easily been overturned by-"

"-simple bureaucracy." the prime minister finished for him. "These things happens to all of us. Even I sometimes find myself caught up in these kind of things. I know that it can be quite irritating."

Wave lowered his head a bit. "I'm sorry you had to see that, sir. I was just getting desperate."

"No worries, lad. I myself have found that sometimes it is better to... find a way to walk around the rules. They are, after all, put in place to protect the people. If they instead prevent us from doing just that then one should not be afraid to find a way around them. For the good of all, of course."

"I agree, sir! But I don't see what you are getting at?" Wave said. He was being very carefull not to step out of line here. The prime minister did give of a friendly feeling but all the rumors and sayings lingered in the back of his head.

"Let me be completly open with you here, Wave. I did not meet you today by pure happenstance. I had arranged for this meeting to happen."

_Well, no shit_, Wave thought. All these halls and corridors are usually not completly deserted in the middle of the afternoon.

"I hope you will excuse me but I did it for a very good reason, young man." the minister went on." I was thinking that we might help each other out a bit. I might need your aid."

"What do you mean, Sir?" Wave answered. Trying to be very attentive of the man's intentions.

"I frankly think this little festivity of yours is a great idea. I could also easily make it happen. As matter of fact, I will make it so you can hold this little party with the imperial guard no matter of your answer. Just as a token of my goodwill. To prove that I'm not trying to blackmail you, Wave."

This suprised Wave a huge deal. "Ohh. Well, thank you a lot, sir! But sir, won't the great general take offence to that?"

"Budo trusts his soldiers to make these type of judgments themself. If they want to participate it means that they will still be able to do their duty." the minister said while tapping his stomach."

"Sir, not to criticize your judgement but are you sure you don't have more capable people at your disposal than me?"

"It is you I need Wave. Because this problem is quite unique." The prime minister said as he took a folder out of his jacket. "This is about your good friend Tatsumi."

Wave tensed up. Tatsumi had always gotten a lot of flack from the higher-ups in the empire but never from this far up. Those who were as high as the prime minister usually had to meet and work with Esdese from time to time and therefore rarely critizised her partner openly.

"It seems that your friend has been up an about a whole lot these last few months." the prime minister said as he opened his folder while they walked. "And it has had some... unwelcomed side effects."

Wave didn't say anything. He felt very uncertain if he liked where this was going.

"I'm sure you have heard that the torture chambers have become a wilder place lately." he continued and sighed. "Esdese does seem frustrated about the direction her relationship with your friend is heading."

"That might be so, sir." Wave said. Unwilling to commit to anything yet.

"Wave, Esdese is one of the most important military assets our empire has. She has remained completly steady and reliable against all the horrors and troubles this empire has faced. She has brought us some of our greatest victories and created one of our most effective armies. Losing her would be an horrible strike to the empire, don't you think?"

"Of course, sir!" Wave exclaimed with determination. While Wave knew that his commander had her quirks he still admired her deeply and was very thankful for all the opportunities she had given him. Asking nothing in return from him but that he always does his best when he works under her. In fact, Wave was still rather proud of being a part of her jaegers despite all the bad things it had brought him.

"Then you must also realize that it is quite troublesome when the first signs of irregularity in her behaviour comes from such a small thing as her subordinate Tatsumi's erratic actions." The prime minister stopped and turned to Wave.

"Wave, I want you to tell me all about Tatsumi's whereabouts in the future. I want you to report what he does and says directly to me."

"If you excuse me for saying it, sir, but that is a rather large order." Wave said. This deal started to smell really foul to him. " You want me to spy on my friend in exchange for a simple party?"

"I already told you that the party is already yours just for listening to my request."

"So you do want me to spy on Tatsumi though, **sir**?" Wave said. Making the last word bear more weight than usual.

"Not spy. Report. I don't want you to go meddling in his affairs or try to ask him things that doesn't come naturally." The minister looked Wave straight in the eyes and gave him a concerned look. "You are the only person that Tatsumi confides with about these kind of troubles. You are the only one who can help me succed with this."

"Succeed with what, sir?" Wave said, looking sternly at the older man.

"Helping to make Esdeath's and your friend's relationship work out, of course." The prime minister looked at him as if he was a child that needed to have everything explained to him.

Wave on the other hand was taken aback quite a bit. "What? Is this all only about that?"

"There is no "only" in this,my lad. We have no idea how Esdese would react if their relationship suddenly fell through. It's a risk we simply cannot take. We need her to stay strong for the sake of the entire empire." The minister said, keeping his stern expression. "I believe that we can avoid that scenario with your help. I constantly work with Esdese and you hear many things from Tatsumi. If you report what you hear to me we will have the full picture and will be able to act accordingly."

"Well then,if that is the only thing this is about, then I will be more than willing to help you. "Wave said with a friendly smile. He recalled that the prime minister actually was one of the few politicians which Esdese had ever expressed any amount of respect for. So this couldn't be that bad. "I have already been trying to find a way to make things work out smoother for them"

"Atta boy!" The old man laughed while patting him on the shoulder in fatherly way. "Here take this folder, remember the things in it and report all the things Tatsumi says about them directly to me."

Wave took the folder and started to skim through it.

"Sir, this is mostly locations and diffrent noblemen,politicians and military personell" Wave said while he gave the prime minister a questioning look.

"Those are the things that I have noticed makes Esdese's mood turn sour."The prime minister _lied_."It is important that we found out what Tatsumi's realtionship to them is."

"I see." Wave said, returning to flipping through the folders diffrent pages. "Do you mind if I keep this folder? I don't think I could memorize all of these on the spot. There are so many of them"

"Yes, I suspect that Tatsumi has been running around quite a lot these last months." The prime minister said. A darker look passing on his face for a very short while. "Keep the folder, lad. Just keep it well hidden. And remember, don't ask any questions that would not be normal in the given situation. Don't stick your nose somewhere risky and most importantly, don't let Esdese know that you report to me."

"Huh? Why should I not let Esdese know that we are trying to help them." Wave asked.

"The situation is strained enough as it is, my boy. Letting Esdese know that we are inquiring into the most private part of her life without permission might not be a good idea, don't you think? Especially since we are acting on the insinuation that she can't handle it herself."

"Yeah, that does make more sense then I wish it would" Wave said. Having experienced a small imitation of what it meant to get on Esdese's bad side once. That was already far more than enough for him.

"I get it."

"Great!" The older man boomed. " Putting a firm yet kind hand on Wave's shoulder. Leading him on down the corridor. "Now, you can't have a proper celebration without some music, my lad. Tell me, have you thought about any musicians in particular. Otherwise I have some great recommandations." The prime minister continued on as they walked down the corridor. The folder about Tatsumi's secrets tucked deep inside Wave's jacket.

* * *

Tatsumi walked through the streets of the huge, inner castle yard. Walking over to the military archieves to turn in his report. It was growning a bit late and very little of the sunlight now made it over the walls. He could feel his hunger growing since it was already about dinner time. In his right hand he held his misson report.

The misson had always only been an excuse to be able to leave Esdese's direct surveillance but it had needed to be a good one. Otherwise Esdese wouldn't have given her permisson. So Tatsumi had made up a story about how there still were people who didn't know he had defected from the revolutionary army. If he was alone and without surveillance he could use these people to get close to the revolutionary army. Bringing invaluable intel to the capital.

He also knew that he had to bring back some results. Otherwise his actions and procedures would have been more thoroughly investigated. So he had chosen to reveal an old Night raid base to the empire. Spending the first three days of his "misson" to travel to the base and make sure that it was still abandoned. Ensuring that there were nothing there that revealed Night raid's current location.

He had made up an long story about following leads and infiltrating spy meetings in order to find the Night raid base. "Documenting" everything in great detail in the report he was about to turn in.

After reaching the right building and standing in line for a few minutes he handed over the folder to an army official. Identifying himself and showing his jaeger insignia. As he was about to turn around and head back out the uniformed man that had accepted his report spoke up.

"One moment, jaeger. A letter was delivered for you just some minutes ago."

"Huh, I didn't know this was a post office." Tatsumi said with a mocking smile.

"Yeah, neither did I. But orders are orders." the uniformed man answered bitterly. Handing over a letter that was little more than a paper that had been folded over and sealed with wax.

"Thanks" Tatsumi said and walked out of the building while staring at the letter.

**_"To Tatsumi of the jaegers. _**

**_From Makeias."_**

This was written across the top of the folded paper. The name meant nothing to Tatsumi. He stuffed the letter into his pocket and headed to his next destination.

Fifteen minutes later he walked into a small bar in one of the more rundown parts of the capital city. He walked down to the front counter and said that he would like order some food. The girl behind the counter nodded and led him away to a empty secluded room on the second floor of the bar. There she motioned for him to take a seat in a sofa with a table in the corner of the room. Then she left him for a couple of minutes. The room only had one window and looked more lika a storage area than anything else.

Then she returned with a flagon of water and some sandwiches. She sat down in front of him. She was a girl in her twenties with curly blonde hair and blue eyes. Wearing a low cut bar maid uniform over her rather well-endowed body.

"We heard that you had returned this morning but we didn't know if it was true." she said silently. "Did everything go as planned."

"I managed to accomplish everything I set out to do." Tatsumi said as he took a bite of one of the sandwiches. Taking great care to use broad terms in case someone,against all odds, was listening to them from a hidden position. "Two days now."

"So I heard." she answered. "Were you mauled by some kind of beast during your journey" she asked with a teasing smile. Gesturing to Tatsumis neck that now carried a painfully visible bite mark.

"Something along those lines." Tatsumi said. Her smile told him that she had already guessed who was responsible for the wound."Has anything changed since I left?" he asked her.

"Nothing big. Eveything is going just as one would expect it to." She answered with a knowing smile. "I guess you have already heard about Esdese's little outbursts."

Tatsumi nodded. "So that is common knowlege now?"

"Oh ,I wouldn't say common knowledge. But you hear all sort of things when you... _work in a bar_."

"Anything else?"

"Now that I think about it, there is on more thing that you might want to know" she said and leaned in a bit closer. "Another general returned to the capital city while you were gone."

"Who?" Tatsumi said. Putting down his sandwich. This could mean everything or nothing.

"The pillager has come back after defeating his opposition at the borders." she answered. Her tone serious.

Tatsumi knew little of this man. The general known as the pillager by the small folk had been stationed at the far borders of the empire for as long as Tatsumi could remember. Earning his nickname by letting his armies forage and pillage everything they could from enemy towns and soil when they lost their supply lines.

"Is he a problem?"

"We don't know. Generals usually get to their ranks either because of their raw fighting-power or their ability to manipulate things in their favor. Most times they have a big share of both talents." She shrugged. "Though if they say two days then I guess that it has been deemed that general Makeias is no threat in the bigger picture."

Tatsmui froze. He pulled up the letter from his pocket. "Is The pillager's real name Makeias?"

"Yeah. General Makeias."

"He left a message for me." He said. Showing the scrunched piece of paper.

"What does it say?" she asked. A fearfull look suddenly taking the smiles place.

Tatsumi broke the seal and read the simple message.

"He invites me for lunch in his quarters tomorrow." Tatsumi said. Confused at to what this meant.

"Invites? Is he not giving you an order?"

"No. It's a simple invitation." Tatsumi said scratching the back of his head. "Which could mean many things. Since the jaegers is a special force under Esdese's direct control, any orders we recieve first has to pass through her. That might be the why this is an informal invitation."

"You think he doesn't want Esdese to know about it?"

"Maybe. Maybe it means something else. Though there is definetly something fishy about it." he said. Folding the letter and putting it back in his pocket. "I guess I will have to go and see for myself. The question is if I should tell Esdese about this or not."

"I would opt for not doing it." The lady barworker said while resting her head into her right hand. "If he is a general then chances are that he is very ambitious and meeting you is just some plot to reach his next goal. If that is the case then we might be able to play him up against someone powerful in the future. This could be an opportunity."

"You might be right. I will meet him tomorrow and we will see. I will think about if I should bring Esdese into it." When he thought about it he could remember a few times when Esdese had mentioned her fellow general. They had apperantly been serving under the same legion in the beginning of their military careers. And had both become generals at about the same time. He couldn't recall anything more that she had mentioned about the man.

"Anyway, thanks for the meal. It's always a pleasure to come here." He looked out of the one solitary window in the room and saw that the sun had set and darkness was creeping out into the streets.

" Don't mention it" Do you want me to mix you a drink for the road?"

"Yeah, that would be great. Thanks." Tatsumi replied with a smile.

"I will be back in a second then." She rose from the seat and walked out of the room. Tatsumi leaned back into the sofa.

The day after tomorrow. Then it would all start. Tatsumi had never thought he would relish destruction or look forward to chaos but some parts of him was looking forward to this. All the things he had seen, all the horrors he had witnessed and endured, all the wrongs and betrayals he had committed, they all lead up to this moment. This was the purpose and justification for it all.

Now this whole empire would burn.

He closed his eyes. Maybe he had become more like Esdese after all, he pondered. Maybe she had manage to change him in some way. Though he was confident that this was not the results she had anticipated.

When his host returned ,ten minutes later, Tatsumi had fallen over and was snooring loudly in the sofa. She thought about waking him up but in the end she just put a blanket over him and turned off the lights. Letting him sleep there for the night.

And Tatsumi dreamed of fire and ruin.

* * *

Back at the castle's living quarters Wave had gotten the party started. Even the prime minister himself had payed a short visit in the beginning. Now the band was getting warmed up and the voices grew louder and merrier.

Unknown to Wave, his good intentions were serving the opposite effect. Only adding further fuel to Esdese's frustration.

She had weathered through the assmebly which had gone on long past the dinner time. She had savored the lingering taste of Tatsumi's blood in her mouth for as long as she could still taste it. Drawing a deep satisfied pleasure from the fact that she had taken a part of him and made it into a part of her. Forever having a bit of him inside of her as a part of her own flesh.

When the meeting had finally been adjourned by the great general, she had been giddy as a small girl on christmas as she got back to her living quarters. Only to find that her present was not there. He had ,however, left some of his clothes which she spent a good five minutes hugging.

Considering it already was quite late into the evening, she had chosen to get undressed and lay down in her bed. She would still be able to feel his presence and wake up even if she fell asleep. Then she would just have to drag him into the bed as well.

She had been lying there, absentmindedly stroking Tatsumi's side of the bed. Running her hand over the blankets and the pillows. Senses turned on to the max. Trying to sense the slightest part of his presence anywhere close by. But he did not come and her stroking slowly turned to clawing as her inner urges tried to find an outlet. As the time passed on, the party grew louder and louder. Making it harder for her to detect if Tatsumi was near.

After lying in the bed for almost three hours she had clawed through the blanket,the pillows and the mattress. Only noticing the damaged she had caused when her nails started to carve into wood. Damaging the bedframe. She rose to sitting to position to look at the damage. She sighed. She wondered if this was something she suffered because of her strength.

She knew that if a person got really frustrated they usually fought and destroyed. They found some way to vent their frustration. A way to get their release. But it was a bit more difficult for her. Everything she hit broke like wet paper. Nothing withstood her force or will. She could level this entire building to the ground and it would still not give her anymore relief than a normal person would get from flexing one of their fingers.

And even so, she knew that she had a greater need for this than most others. A greater wish destroy. A greater urge to damage. Her enjoyment of these things were far larger than it was for most others.  
But it meant little if she only felt like she was hitting air. She had to look far and wide to find the few people that didn't snap like twigs at her mere hostility. An even fever amount of those lasted long enough for her to get any real relief or satisfaction.

The one person who could bring her relief efficiently was her lover and it seemed like he was avoiding her for the moment. Just a single one of Tatsumi's labored, painridden screams gave her more than a whole day in the torture chambers with the northern warlord Numa Seika had. A single one of his sweet little mewls or whimpers of submission gave her more than a prison cell full of people begging and screaming for mercy. Yet when she was with him those urges often took a backseat to other needs that he awoke in her. Things expressed through far more gentle and far more caring actions.

Her partner. Her mate.

So. Why. Was. He. Not. Where. He. BELONGED!

She raised her hand to smash the bedframe to pieces but she stopped herself. Pausing for a moment, she sighed again.

She got up from the bed and walked over to the desk where Tatsumi had put his report. Anything to put her mind on a diffrent matter. She hadn't always been this easily frustrated by his absence. The first two times she lost him had been months apart and then she had been doing much better than this. The diffrence being that now she had made him hers already. He was now her partner and that had in some strange way caused her longing for him to increase tenfold.

Maybe this kind of needy dependence could be interpreted as a weakness in itself but Esdese didn't care. He was simply one of her primal needs now. Just like food and water. She would procure her solution to that need by any means necessary. Woe to all things that came in her way.

She sat down and opened the folder. Rummaging through the papers Tatsumi had written. It seems that he had been rather successful on his mission. He had been able to not only find traces of where the Night raid had been but he had even managed to locate one of their old bases. She once again felt pride fill her chest. Of course he brought back good results. He was her partner after all.

However, she was and would probably always be, a better hunter. If he had been able to find the base then she herself could probably make out a lot more with a visit. Night raid usually made sure to cover up all their tracks but now they had confirmed that this had been their base once. That made things a lot diffrent.

She pulled a paper from a stack lying on the desk, dipped a pen in ink and wrote out her order in a far more elegant handwriting than Tatsumi's.

_**"Prepare a smaller garrison to accompany me tomorrow afternoon. I will venture to the east of the capital to personally investigate a trace of the vigilant group known as Night raid."**_

* * *

**Author's note: **

**There we go. The first two entries of Bent but not broken. These were both written in the same session but I choose to split them up since I do not wish for all the chapters to be so long. **I do want to be able to release these relatively regularly after all.** **

**English is not my native language so it takes me some time to iron these out. I have to reread and correct them a lot. And even then they still contain a lot of sloppy mistakes when I release them. But I'am getting better. I hope.**

**If everything goes as planned the next chapter will be released before christmas and then hopefully another one before the end of the year.**

**Thanks A LOT for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. I deeply appreciate all you who choose to favorite,follow or write a comment/review. Makes this experience even more fun for me.**

**Take care of each other and have a great day.**


	3. Diversions

**Now there is a deadline I barely passed. **

**Sorry for being a bit out in the last minute but this chapter grew out of control.**

* * *

**Diversions.**

The sun slowly started to shine in through the small room's only window. Creeping gradually over the floor. Steadily making its way to the boy sleeping on the sofa. As the first sunrays started to hit Tatsumi's face he was slowly brought back to concious after sleeping for almost eleven hours.

He rose to sitting position, a bit disoriented. The blanket sliding off him.

_Ohh I really needed that_, he thought and stretched his arms up in the air. _But why am I..._

_OH NO. _

Tatsumi felt panick rising in his chest. His breathing increasing in speed as adrenaline was released into his veins.

He had left her alone! He had fallen asleep and slept through the whole night when she was waiting for him. Things had already been bad yesterday but now, now the direness of the situation might have increased tenfolded. She knew that he was in the city. She had made him well aware that she wanted to spend the night with him.

This might be really bad.

He threw his sword over his back and raced out of the shop. Not even bothering with saying goodbye to the owners. He raced through the streets towards the palace. His thoughts moving even faster.

Usually when he denied Esdese something she wanted it only made her more playful sides come out. Trying to find some way to get it. Making it into a small competition between the two of them. In the end she usually got what she wanted though. Either by actually outmaneuvering him or sometimes he simply teased her too much and she threw away the facade and easily overpowered him in any way relevant to the situation. Taking joy in the mere act of making him submit to her. Dominating him in any way she saw fit.

After his submission, some sort of punishment usually followed. These were rarely anything serious but usually rather gentle and playful things. Driven by mischievous affection more than any wish to harm him or make him learn a lesson.

The first six months he had lived with Esdeath she had treated him like a kitten. Completly unwilling to put him in risk of any harm. Not allowing him to get even the slightest of bruises. Afraid that something would happen to him now that he finally belonged to her. During those times she had only touched him as if he was made of glass. Afraid of hurting him in the slightest. Overprotective to the point of suffocation.

But as time passed she had slowly come to accept that her original stance had been the best one if she wanted him to become all that she wanted him to be. He needed to meet hardships to get stronger. She would have to accept that she needed to trust that he was strong enough to survive. As she originally had.

So she let him face dangers. Trusting in her instinct's premonitions that he was strong enough. She watched him survive challenge after challenge. Becoming stronger and stronger under her training. With time she even started to play with him herself. No longer afraid to hurt him a little bit. And when he endured her rougher treatment as well, she slowly, carefully began to hurt him for no other reason than pleasure.

Tatsumi had learned to live with those painful moments during their more intimate interactions. They were by nature playful and just another way for her to draw enjoyment from him. Rarely being anything that he would feel after a day or two. Esdese herself usually demanding that he allow her to look after him and treat the bruises and wounds she had inflicted.

However there had been two times when she had actually felt like he had betrayed her in ways that she would not tolerate. Those had been harsher.

Those times had not been playful. Not a matter of intimacy between two lovers but rather Esdese's desperate attempt to teach the one person she loved to not betray her again.

It was kind of pitiful in its own right, Tatsumi thought as he rushed through the streets. Heading for the main barrack of Esdese's forces in the capital.

He wanted to believe that she hadn't liked that either. He wanted to believe that it was just desperation since she didn't know what else to do. He wanted to believe that she was afraid that the things she did to him actually would drive him further away. But he didn't know. For all he knew she might have been riding high on all the pain she gave him at those two occasions.

They rarely spoke of them. Esdese avoided the subject as well. Maybe it was because it was the two only points in their relationship when he had seemed more like her pet than her lover, even between just the two of them. Tatsumi knew that she hated when that line was blurred. She felt that it degraded her love for him. This she had said to him herself.

Not that Tatsumi thought this situation would be that bad but he didn't want to take any chances right now.

He reached the main barrack for Esdese's forces. It was rather late in the morning so she might be here since the jaeger meeting probably was done by now. He jumped up the steps of the stairs to the entrance and rushed in through the door. Entering the reception. Without even looking around he shouted."I need to meet the general immediately."

He saw that the room was filled with about ten soldiers. Three of them were discussing something with the highest ranked officer in the room.

Tatsumi quickly realized, to his dismay, that the superior officer was the one of Esdeath's subordinates that he hated the most.

"Ah, look, the little boy toy has returned." Bellany exclaimed. Making every soldier in the room turn their head to him.

Bellany was about he same age as Tatsumi. She was rather beautiful in her own right. Having a long and lean body. Extremly well trained despite still having some rather elegant features. She had long dark-green hair tied up into a ponytail that almost reached her knees. She carried and filled up her uniform beautifully and was well aware of it.

Her combat proficiency and extreme good hand with military organizations had earned her a high place in Esdese's army. Now being one of the general's closest counsellor.

And she had always hated Tatsumi.

He himself was not sure as to why but he guessed that it came from his involvment with the revolutionary army. The truth however was a bit different. While his involvment in Night raid didn't help, the real reason for her resent was actually based in the that she found him unworthy.

She had worked so hard to rise in the imperial army. Sha had fought with everything she had to secure a position at Esdese's side and she had to defend it all the time. Since Esdese would let her fall from grace the moment she showed herself to be unworthy. Then out of nowhere, a former criminal gains a higher standing in Esdese's esteem than anyone else in the entire imperial army. And not only that, he gained her complete protection and affection for doing absolutely nothing as far as Bellany could tell.

She found him completly unfit to be the lover of the general she had come to idolize and adore during her time in the imperial army. To Bellany, Esdese was the epitome of a good leader. Strong,ruthless, kind and beautiful. Perfect. Tatsumi was just another vigilante who would and should have been dead long ago if it wasn't for her beloved leader's benevolence. He had even spoken against her at times. Defying the orders that were absolute to the rest of the army.

However, Bellany was convinced that Esdese would tire of Tatsumi in the future. No longer finding him as enjoyable and then ultimately, she would discard him. When this latest little whim of hers had run it's course,Tatsumi would be thrown away and the wolfs of the empire would come and tear him screaming apart. Feasting on his remains. And she could not wait to see it happen.

Not that she woud ever mention this in Esdese's presence. She knew that her opinions were irrelevant to Esdese so she just bid her time. Careful to respect her leader's orders when it concerned her new little toy. But she had patiently and methodically tested the grounds and learned what Tatsumi would report to Esdese. Slowly learning just how far she should try annoy and bother the young man.

"Do you long so much for the whip that you even can't leave our leader alone to do her job?" Bellany said condescendingly. Looking over at him.

Some of the soldiers laughed but most stayed silent. Unsure if it was wise to openly mock Tatsumi.

"I don't have time for this right now, Bellany." Tatsumi said in a calm yet irritated voice.

"Well unlike yourself, I actually have quite a lot of work I need to get done. So why should I waste my time answering an unlawful turncoats questions." she said. A irritated expression overtaking her mocking smile.

"Enough of this." Tatsumi said. He was in too much of a hurry to let Bellany get to him right now. "Tell me where Esdese is or I will tell her that you prevented me from seeing her."

"**General** Esdese is currently moving out from the western courtyard on her own initiative. She is heading out to investigate if you actually did your job, assassin."

She was about to ask him if that worried him but he immediately turned around and sprinted out of the room.

* * *

It turned out that Esdese hadn't left the capital yet and was still preparing to move out. Tatsumi reached the yard where attendants and stableboys were preparing equipment and horses for the party that was about to move out. When he saw that she wasn't there, he ran to the path she would take if she walked from her own quarters to the courtyard. Hoping to intersect her.

He finally did so in a long open hall that led from one wing of the inner palace to another.

Getting to her was more of a challenge though. The huge hall was filled with people that had come to see what was going on. Young noblemen and other members of the elite. Not having anything else to do with their time. Guards had been stationed to keep the crowd to the sides of the gigantic room while a big group of soldiers and officers walked through the hall.

He had to struggle to even get to a position where he could see the constellation move through the hall.

Finally he caught a glimpse of her. She was at the head of the assemblage of military personnel. Leading the way forward. The group consisted of maybe fifty people as far as Tatsumi could see. Two thirds of it were soldiers from her own forces. Summoned for their specific abilities and roles within her army. The last third consisted of some of her pets. A varied bunch of people who had had the fortune or misfortune to catch her interest.

Some were warriors with certain skills or abilities that had pledged their life to her out of their own free will. Some were people she had given the choice of either serving her with their entire existence or she would end it.

And a few sad beings that had once been her opponents. People that she for one reason or another had decided to keep around.

They had once been strong and astounding enough to challenge her. Then she had tortured them to her full abilities. Breaking them over and over again. Until they had forgotten and abandoned everything that they believed in. And any reason as to why they opposed her. Now they only lived to try and make her happy with them. Doing anything in the world to just get some kind of approval. All pride, shame, self-esteem and morality burned away from them long ago. A display of how she dominated the mere memory of their existence.

They walked at the back of the column of people.

The highest officers of her forces gathered around Esdese at the front, all vying for her attention. Currently a high ranked strategic officer was showing her a map and discussing some deployments with her as they walked. Her eyes followed his gestures on the map. Answering his questions about orders and directives.

This was her in her natural element. This was where she bloomed. In all her terrifying beauty. Walking with the body of a love godess while carrying the aura of death itself. With her imposing uniform and sense of authority that the general's long coat gave to those who wore it. Huge amounts of people following her, drawn to the power of her presence. Driven there by hope of gaining her favor or just by being afraid of her wrath.

An alpha creature among alpha creatures. Completly unmatched. Ruling through fear and power.

_Why did she has to be so goddam strong?_, Tatsumi thought as he watched her lead the group of warriors forward. He had since long realized that he would never be strong enough to change her. She was strong because of her beliefs and her beliefs made her able to survive almost anything.

"Esdese!" He called out at the top of his lungs but his call was drowned out by the noise and buzz of the crowd that had gathered. Yet he still saw her eyes turn and meet his. A cold and annoyed expression on her face. But then she turned back to the strategic officer as they walked on.

Tatsumi was a bit baffled. This was a first.

Had she not seen him? No, that was impossible. She was able to feel his presence even when he used Incursio's invisibility. So why did she ignore him? Esdese wasn't exactly the type to give the silent treatment. If she was displeased with you, she would make you painfully aware of it. Not trying to punish you by not interacting with you. Had she made arrangements for some other kind of punishment? Either way, Tatsumi did not like the insinuations.

He planted both his feet into the floor and jumped up over the crowd and the guards. Landing in the middle of the path that was cleared for Esdese and her followers. Placing himself in the way of the whole procedure. Driven by something more than just a wish for mere damage control. Although he didn't admit it to himself.

Her ice cold eyes meet his for a moment and then closed while she waved her right hand in the air. Looking slightly irritated.

"Tatsumi, get out of the way. I'm moving out with a-"

"I'm so sorry, Esdese!" he exclaimed while looking her straight in the eyes. Trying to get all his genuine remorse to show through.

Esdese stopped in her tracks. She still carried the same cold and slightly annoyed expression but now her eyes were drilling into him. She didn't say anything as Tatsumi returned her gaze. He was unsure if she expected him to say more or if she was contemplating what to do.

Everyone around her stayed silent. All of them were well tuned to her behaviour by now. They had all learned to know when they should try to speak to her and when they shouldn't. All of them waiting for a signal from her while the general kept staring at Tatsumi.

Finally she turned her gaze to the officer and spoke in her cold authorative voice.

"Leave us."

Without a single momement of hesitation, the entire crowd behind her began to move on and started to leave. Even the guards that wasn't under her direct command started to push and force the gathered crowd to move out of the hall. Her complete authority showing through once again .

Tatsumi watched her retinue leave with unease. The military personnel throwing him nasty glances. Some filled with anger, other with jealousy and a few with pity. Her pets didn't even dare to raise their gaze to his face as they passed him. Tatsumi turned to watch the doors close behind the last of Esdese's servants and warriors. He could feel her gaze burning into him from behind. Full of force and power but he could not determine the feelings behind it.

When the doors closed shut he directly turned around.

"Listen Esde-"

She moved at her full speed. After all the training and time he had spent with her, he was still unable to see her movements clearly when she gave it all she had. Her hand grabbed the collar of his coat and swung him around into the nearest wall and then lifted him up off the ground while pressing him against it.

However, Tatsumi directly noticed that the she hadn't smashed him into the wall to cause damage to him. Just to get him there. This collision was nothing to his well trained and hardened body and she knew it. That was a huge relief.

_But damn this height diffrence._ Tatsumi had grown during his months with her but he was still shorter than her. His eyes barely reaching her nose. Which made this position way to natural. He dangled with his feet in the air. Trying desperatly to reach for the ground.

She moved close to him, putting her lips at his ear.

"Where were you last night, Tatsumi?"

He could feel her warm breath entering his ear canal. Her longcoat and hair obscured all the light from him and all he could smell was her. He felt like he was going to be swallowed whole.

"I'm sorry Esdese, I swear I didn't mean to-" Tatsumi stammered.

"Where were you, Tatsumi?" she hissed into his ear. "I have an urge to destroy something or someplace."

"I was just too tired, Esdese. I fell asleep in a sofa at some local restaurant when I was there to eat my dinner yesterday. They were kind enough to let me sleep through the night there."

"Ohooo" she said. Her voice growing soft and charmingly sweet. Which completly terrified Tatsumi. That voice was the same one she used on her victims in the torture chambers right before delivering the worst part. Sometimes she also used it when asking her dying opponents if they felt regret or if it hurt as she slowly killed them.

"So you chose a sofa in a small restaurant over me and my bed?" she whispered in his ear. Her free hand moved upp his leg. Clawing at his left buttock to then come to a rest at his lower back. Under his shirt. Ready to administer any kind of experience she thought he deserved.

"You know it wasn't a choice." he said. He was unsure of how angry she was and that made him bring up his best defenses just to be safe.

"Ohhh, but how could it not be, Tatsumi? It seems like a pretty clear one to me." she whispered in that flirtatious voice that made the hair on his back rise. Esdese could feel it with her hand and drew a certain satisfaction from it but he was not getting away that easily.

She had supressed all her longing and needs so that she could perform without distractions today and then he just had to come and place himself right in her path. Offering himself to her. There was a limit to what temptations she could withstand.

He stammered on. "Come on Esdese, you know that is unfair. I-"

"Tatsumi."

"...eh?"

"You smell of another woman." she said, revealing what her instincts had told her since she got close to him. Not really worried about his loyalty in this matter, she mainly just wanted to get a cute reaction from him.

"Yes the owners of the bar put a blanket on me and I guess that it had been used by some woman before me and that-" he stammered at a much more panicked and faster voice. Not disappointing her expectations.

"Shut up" she whispered. Stopping him mid-sentence. Her mouth was half open beside his ear. She wanted to bite him. She wanted to nibble on his cute ear.

She was about to do just that when he suprised her. His arm shoot out and wrapped around her back. Hugging her hard. Pulling his limp hanging body into hers. Closing the small gap between them.

He talked in a much calmer voice."You know I love you. I have duties just as you. You admitted so yesterday. Those duties took the energy I needed to be with you last night. Sorry."

"That was weak of you, Tatsumi." she returned. Not giving away how much she loved the feeling of him pressed close to her.

"Maybe, but I will get stronger!" He knew how much she loved hearing him pledge his growth to her.

"Yes. Yes you will." she said. The hand on his back started pressing him into her. Her fingers slowly creeping down past the belt of his pants. She was about to grab his behind when she suddenly froze.

Her head rose to watch one of the huge closed doors that she had entered the hall through.

"Tchh" she clicked her tongue with irritation. She let him down on the ground. Planted one hand on the wall on the left side of his head, right above his shoulder and turned to watch the door. Still possesivly holding her arm over him.

"Esdese?" Tatsumi said. Then the huge doors she was watching opened. Pressed open by a single figur. Lazily walking into the room.

Tatsumi recognized the man even if he didn't know his name. He was the the ragged man that had been sitting beside Esdeath at the assembly yesterday. A man looking to be in his late twenties, having brown-gray hair and carrying a tattered and torn piece of clothing that reached down to the floor. Parts of it dragging on the ground behind him.

"Ohh sorry. I hope that I'm not interrupting something." general Makeias said. Giving the pair a smile that was everything but sorry.

"I think you can assess the situation well without my guidance." Esdese said. Scowling at the approaching man. Not even giving him the slightest shadow of forgivness for interrupting her.

"And I think your instincts are good enough to warn you that you are walking into a dangerous situation."

Tatsumi could almost feel himself starting to sweat as Esdese started to radiate hostility. It emanated so strongly from her that, even though it was all directed away from him ,it still made him feel pressured. Yet the man calmly kept walking towards them as his steps echoed through the empty hall. Completly unfazed ,to Tatsumi's suprise.

The fact of the matter was that Makeias was everything but unfazed, even if he knew how to hide it. His instincts were much more finely attuned than Tatsumi's and they all screamed at him to flee. He felt sweat run down his spine. But he would have been dead many times over if he didn't know how to keep a calm mind when heavily pressured.

And the general had learned early on that if you showed a predator that you were bleeding, it would come for you faster. And this was a predator if he had ever seen one.

"My instincts tell me a lot of things. Doesn't mean that I always listen." he said with a grin. Calmly looking right at Esdese as he confidently moved closer. "I heard that you were moving out on a short notice so I came to discuss some troop placements with you before you leave."

Tatsumi still had no idea who this man was. But he was about to have the blunt force of all of Esdese's built up frustration smashed right into him if this went on.

The man walked up until he was just a few meters from them both. "Shall we go, general Esdese?". He gestured towards the giant doors leading to the outer yard.

She stared at him for a couple of seconds. Then she sighed. "I will be right there, general Makeias."

Tatsumi felt his jaw drop. The other general smiled and started walking to the door. Tatsumi did not have time to further connect the dots before Esdese pressed him into the wall with her body, sealing his mouth with hers. This time the kiss they shared was a bit calmer than last time though. More driven by longing and passion than hungry lust.

After a moment she moved her mouth a few centimeters back. Her forehead resting aginst his. With her eyes closed she whispered to him, "I will return before sunfall. Don't you dare to leave me alone again tonight."

"I promise that I won't." he whispered back. "And I really am sorry."

She leaned in and sniffed his hair one last time before pushing him back into the wall with one hand. Then she turned and walked away to the door and the waiting general.

Makeias held up the door for her, which she passed through without so much as looking at him. Right before the doors were about to close,general Makieas turned and looked at Tatsumi for the first time since he interrupted them. A smile spreading across the older mans face before the doors closed.

* * *

The gathering of people that had been waiting for Esdese in the next room once again had to take a backseat. Walking 10 meters behind the two generals as they walked to the yard where the horses had been prepared. This time they did it more humbly than they had with Tatsumi though. Uncertain about anything about this new man except his rank.

The two generals walked silently until Esdese spoke.

"I used to think that the ruthlessness your campaigns has displayed actually concealed a strategic cunning. But now I wonder if maybe you're just reckless and lucky." she said. Her voice as cold as her ice.

"Neither the empire or history will care." he answered." And frankly, I think it was a pretty easy call to make that you wouldn't strike out at a fellow general just because he interrupted your moment with your lover. I know you have strange standards but I remember you as being rather intelligent."

_You would be suprised at how close you were there_, Esdeath thought.

"And besides, I know the rumors about your strength." Makeias went on. "I can even imagine that they are justified. But I won't die just by you lashing out at me."

"I can be quite thorough with my punishments, general. That you can trust." Esdese said, keeping her gaze forward. Not looking at the other general and his smiles.

They had reached the yard which was now filled with people. Stableboys and servants that were readying the horses and the equipment. As well as the warriors and trackers that had been chosen to accompany Esdese. And lots and lots of noblemen and politicians who had come to see Esdeath leave. Uncertain of where she was going.

"Ohh? I thought that you had become kind of sloppy in that field these days." Makeias said. Referring to her latest visits to the torture chambers.

Esdese turned her head and stared him right in the eyes. Her expression filled with controlled anger. "Careful general. You can't always save yourself with pretty words and wits."

"Sure I can. It's just a matter of the right words at the right time." Makeias answered in a relaxed voice.

She stopped. _You pushed your luck too far at the wrong time_, Esdese thought. She turned around to him and smiled. One of her free hands resting comfortably on the hilt of her rapier.

"Now that I think about it, I have never seen you in combat, pillager." she said in a gentle voice. Nothing like her cold and disdainful demeanor some seconds ago.

General Makeias flinched slightly at that name. Clearly uncomfortable with both the name and the direction this conversation was going. Had he made a mistake?

"I think it is important that people of our rank keep our skills in good condition and the best way to do that is to constantly challenge yourself." She called out. Loud enough for everyone in the yard to hear. "What do you say, general Makeias? How about a friendly sparring match tomorrow. Just between you and me."

The whole yard grew silent in a second. Everybody was now watching Makeias.

Esdese's smile got a more menacing tone to it. _Got you_, she thought. _Either back down and the whole capital will know that your big act is only a show before the day is over. Or accept and give me a chance to show you why you should have been more respectfull with me._

The other general didn't turn over to her directly. Silently looking up at the sky with a solemn face. He stood so for almost five seconds but then he turned to her. A relaxed smile slowly forming on his face.

_Yes_, Esdese thought. _Give it to me_.

"Sure Esdese. I have seen you fight before but it could be fun to see how much you have grown during my time at the borders." he said in a calm voice that didn't betray any of his emotions. "One condition though."

"Hmm?" Esdese raised an eyebrow.

"We will fight without using our Teigus. We don't want to cause too much collateral damage after all."

"I'm fine with that." she answered.

"Then I accept your challenge, Esdese."

Esdese tilted her head up an laughed without warmth or kindness. The people in the yard that were a part of her forces started to smile. They knew this laugh. Their leader had just gotten some new entertainment.

"But that is for tomorrow." general Makeias said. Unperturbed by her reaction. Drawing out a folder of papers from under his coat. "There are some troop positionings we need to discuss before you leave."

"Of course." Esdese said. Suddenly in a much better mood.

* * *

To the far east of the capital the smaller garrison that Esdese had brought with her was setting up a parameter around the old night raid base. Esdese was kind of suprised at how desolate it's surroundings were. She had expected them to hide in towns or villages. Trying to hide among other people. But this was basically in the middle of nowhere. She guessed that they needed the isolation to be able to train their abilities properly.

She was instructing her second-in-command about how she wanted the area searched when she suddenly stopped herself in the middle of a sentence. She turned to a small grove close to them. Not a hundred meters away. A mocking and questioning expression formed on her face. As if to say "Really?".

"General?"

"Go and see that my orders are done. I will be investigating these visitors." She answered and started to walk over to the trees.

"What visitors?" the man asked but Esdese simply waved a hand at him and he immediately walked off. Knowing better than to question her.

"I have already noticed you. Come out or you will regret it." She called out as she kept walking towards the bushes. One hand resting on her weapon.

After a moment , two people shuffled out of the bushes. A brown haired girl with a bow around her body and a blond boy with a spear behind his back. Both seemed to be really nervous.

"Do you know who I am?" Esdese asked as she walked towards them.

"No,ma'am." The boy spoke up loudly."But I can see that you are an imperial army official."

"So why did you hide then?" Esdese said. She had now reached them and stopped just a meter in front of them.

"We did not expect to see he imperial army around these parts. We thought it wise to hide, since some kind of battle maybe was about to commence." the girl spoke up.

_Things have turned really bad_, Maria thought. They had just arrived an hour before this to investigate the night raid base and see if they could find anything. Leone had went into the base itself while they had been set to scout the surroundings. Now just ten minutes ago they had seen the imperial force approach and had gone into hiding.

Why were the empire here? And not just a small garrison but Esdese herself. None of the two young revoulutionary agents had ever seen Esdese before but they had been briefed about her many times before. It was not hard to recognize her from the descriptions. Which meant that they were in serious trouble, Maria reasoned.

"Then why were you here in the first place?" Esdese demanded, shifting her cold gaze to the girl.

_Really careful now_, Maria thought. One wrong word could mean their deaths right now.

"We were out hiking and just happened to come across this place right before you arrived. It was pure chance."

This was extremely bad luck, she tought. If she had been on her own she might have been able to hide since she was specialized in assassination but Rori was mainly a warrior and a tracker. He was not trained to conceal his presence.

"I can see that you are carrying hiking equipment. I will now ask you about your destination on this hiking trip. You will both answer at the exact same time when I count to three." Esdese said.

"We are heading to village two miles west of her to visit our grandparents" they answered in perfect unison after the countdown. Trained to be able to handle this kind of questioning.

"Do you have any kind of identification with you?" Esdese asked.

"Of course." Rori said. Pulling up a pamplet and handing it over. Esdese started to read through it. One hand still resting on the rapier.

"As you can see we really just passed here by chance. We have no ulterior motive. You can go back to conducting whatever operation you have going here and we will just move on wi-"

"No." Esdese interrupted. Not looking up from the pamplet.

That single word made both of the revolutionary agents feel a deep shiver run down their backs. The atmosphere was extremly tense.

"Excuse me?" Rori said. His voice filled with uncertainty.

"You won't be leaving anytime soon." Esdese said while flipping over another page in the pamplet.

"But why? Maria asked.

Esdese closed the pamplet and looked up at them. "Partly because of your stances. You look like you have had military training yet your identification says nothing about it. If you actually have been trained by the imperial military, then I see no reason as to why you were hiding. That, plus the fact that I haven't seen a single person for miles and then when we come here, there are two people hiding in wait for us. It's too big of a coincidence. Especially considering that one of you is trained to conceal your presence."

"Excuse me, ma'am, but that is nothing more than a hunch. You are overreacting." Rori said. Now starting to feel the desperation set in for real.

"I have bereft people of their freedom for far smaller things." Esdese said. Looking bored. " I will have you questioned more thoroughly at a diffrent location, when I'm done here."

"That is simply unreasonable." Maria shouted.

"Your opinion is not in my interests." Esdese said. Reaching out to Rori with the pamplet, handing it back."If you are unable to oppose my will then you simply have to live under it."

Rori reached out to grab the identification but at the last moment he instead grabbed Esdese's wrist. With lightning speed he turned his body sideways. Taking a stance to use his body to throw her. He figured that she had to be freakishly strong if the rumors were true. Any attack that didn't use his entire body would probably not affect her.

But as he shifted the weight of his body, Esdese reacted. Delivering a backhanded slap with the hand he was holding straight into his chest. Sending him flying a good ten meters.

Maria had made the same judgement as her boyfriend. If they were going to escape, it was now or never. However, they needed to somehow slow the general down or their chances of getting away would be small. If they could just damage her in some way, their immediate future would look a lot brighter. They didn't need to beat her. Just clip her wings.

When she saw Rori grab Esdese's wrist she immediately started to crouch down while reaching for the knife tied to the lower part of her thigh. Ready to launch herself forward, aiming for one of Esdese's legs.

However, when Esdese smashed Rori away with her right hand she raised her left leg up at a speed Maria was not able to react to. Much less avoid. Esdese then smashed her heel down on her leg in a horrible stomping motion. Splintering all the bones in Maria's knee while simultaneously forcing the knife Maria was about to draw deep into her calf. A terrible side effect of Maria's crouching position.

"Giiinnnh!". Maria immediately silenced her own scream with an tremendous effort of willpower. She had never felt this level of pain before. She was about to fall down but Esdese grabbed her right hand with an iron grip while looking at Rori. Leaving Maria hanging from that arm.

The young man had alreay gotten up. His long training in the revolutionary army making him able to soften his own fall. Even when it was unexpected. He had readied his spear and was in a position to launch forward at her.

"The next time you try to attack me I will kill before you can even realize what is happening." Esdese said. She bared her teeth at him in a feral smile. Filled with joy but without a trace of kindness or sympathy.

Rori felt like he was being pressed into the ground by her mere gaze. Her aura had completly changed. Suddenly it was all too apparent to the boy that he had been a fool to think that he could cause any serious damage to this opponent. This was a huge mistake.

Esdese slowly turned her smile to the girl who's arm she was holding. Maria felt waves of fear and panick wash over her as Esdese's eyes settled on her. But she did not show it. She only scowled at the general, unwilling to show any weakness.

Esdese's expression did not change as she slowly moved her free hand to the one of Maria's she was holding. Looking the other girl straight in the eyes as she slowly started to open up her hand with her own while keeping the wrist in an iron hold. Taking joy in watching as Maria realized what was about to happen.

She slowly opened up the other girl's hand. Barely even noticing the resistance as Maria tried to keep her hand closed. She grabbed Maria's index finger and started to slowly bend it backwards.

"Stop that!" Rori shouted but was interrupted by an audible crack as Esdeath broke the upper joint of Maria's index finger.

Maria used all of her willpower to supress any reaction from showing. With her already heavily damaged leg that was no easy task but she refused to let the general know how much she was hurting.

"Ohh, so you are just going to stand there and watch as I slowly break your comrade." Esdese said with an intrigued voice. Her eyes not leaving Maria's face.

Rori felt himself losing what little calm he had left. "Bastard, don't you dare-" Crack.

Another sickening crunch was heard as Esdese crushed another one of Marias fingers. She looked at the boy. Smiling.

"..or else what?"

"Demon" he roared. Starting to move forward.

"Stop!" he immedialy stopped as Maria's panicked voice reached him. Feeling misery fill his heart as he watched his lover's painridden face.

"Don't do it. She will just kill you. Please don't do it." her voice suddenly filled with fear and panick as she could feel how close her boyfriend was to his doom. "Please, Rori. Just run away. Leave me here. Just run. Please."

The young man's only respond was to take another step forward.

Maria, now feeling she had no options left, turned to Esdese.

"Please don't do it." she said. Abandoning all her resolve in a desperate attempt to save Rori's life. Tears now running down her face as she begged the ice cold eyes of the imperial general.

"Please! I beg you. I submit. Please don't kill him. You don't have to! I wil-" Crack.

Esdese bent Maria's middle finger so far back that the skin almost tore.

And Maria screamed. A long shrill scream filled with pain and fear. Esdese's eyelids moved down slightly. She was clearly enjoying the reaction.

Rori screamed with rage and launched himself forward. Fully accepting that this might be his last moment in life. His scream was however overpowered by far louder, fiercer and more bestial roar.

Esdese had to let go of Maria in order to jump a couple of meters back as Leone's fist smashed into the spot she had previously been standing in. Smashing the ground to pieces. Creating a small dust cloud.

"Ahh, finally a face I recognize." Esdese said, smiling. One hand on her cap and the other one resting on her still sheated weapon.

"I am suprised at just how much of a psycopath you are everytime I see you." Leone said while rising up from the impact. "You disgust me." She spat to the side.

"Looks like this kitten is in need of some taming." Esdese said while slowly drawing her rapier. "No worry, I will train you thoroughly."

"Rori, take Maria and run. Now!" Leone said while keeping her eyes locked on the ice queen.

"Tatsumi might have given me a better gift than he knew himself." Esdese mused as she slowly started to walk towards Leone.

_Had this all been a trap?_, Leone thought. It seemed unlikely but if Tatsumi only had been visiting this place as a bait, then maybe. That would, however, require that Tatsumi had been able to tell that he had been spotted. The empire's strongest general would not waste her time if they didn't know if they had a chance to catch someone. Either way, now was not the time for pondering, Leone conculded. Casting a glance over her shoulder.

Rori has managed to lift up Maria after dislodging her own knife from her calf. Looking at Leone with uncertainty.

"Go! Head for the second meet-up point. And don't look back!" she roared.

Rori gave her one last emotion-filled look before dashing of. Holding Maria close to his chest.

_When did I get so soft-hearted?_ ,Leone thougth with a smile as she gave her subordinates one last glance. _It's funny. This is why I always said that having attendants would be a bother, she thought. I knew that it would end like this. But now that the moment is here, I actually don't feel too bad about it._ Leone turned her eyes to Esdese.

"Alright, lets do this, you icy, love-stealing, sadistic piece of shit. I will be damned if I can't get one hit and ruin that beautiful face of yours before this is over" Leone screamed with a defiant smile.

Esdese continued her steady approach. Being in no hurry at all. "Ahh, I like your attitude." she calmly answered."I will enjoy slowly tearing down your defiance until there is nothing left of who you once was."

Leone planted both of her feet into the ground and launched herself forward with all her might. Creating a cloud behind her as dirt was blown up in the air as she flew against her awaiting opponent.

* * *

Tatsumi was a bit suprised when he entered Makeias's chambers. He had expected something along the lines of Esdese's chambers. Extravagant and luxurious. With every little thing you could ever wish for within an arm's reach.

Since Makeias shared Esdeath's rank, Tatsumi had expected that his living quarters would be the same. Yet when he opened the door and walked in he was meet with a large empty room without curtains or furniture. Boxes were stacked in high piles all over the room and five people were busy lifting said wooden and cardboard boxes around.

The men were some of the largest humans Tatsumi had ever seen. Not especially muscular. Somewhat gagnly actually. But they had to be almost three meters long each. They all carried imperial uniforms but he did not recognize what legion they were from. He assumed they belonged to Makeias's personal forces.

He walked up to the one closest to him. "Excuse me soldier, I am searching for general Makeias. Do you know where I can find him?"

The huge man looked down at him for a couple of seonds before pointing towards a double door at the far side of the big room with an extremly long and slender finger. Still not saying a word.

"Thank you." Tatsumi said and walked of while the man continued to stare at him for a while.

He walked up the door and knocked. After waiting for fifteen seconds without an answer he knocked again. "Tatsumi of the jaegers reporting in! I'm searching for general Makeias."

"Enter." a silent and monotone voice answered from the other side of the door.

Tatsumi walked in to the room and was met with a sight not too unlike what he just came from. The huge room seemed to be some sort of study.

The wall right in front of him was lined with long windows. Adorned with black curtains. The wall to his left were made up of bookshelves. Filled with everything from modern cookbooks to old dusty tomes. The wall to his right was covered with the largest map Tatsumi had ever seen. It had to be at least 8 meters high and just as wide. It was a map of the empire and the bordering countries. It was covered in notes and attached papers written in a language that Tatsumi couldn't read.

The room itself still lacked any furnitur though. Except for a wooden coat hanger on the left side of the door he just passed through. A single dirty and destoyed piece of clothing hanged from it. A general's longcoat. This room was also filled with piles and stacks of boxes of diffrent sizes. Just as the room he came from.

In the middle of the room sat the person he was looking for with his side turned to him. He was sitting on a cardboard box at a table made up several other boxes. Three stacks of papers where lined up on the makeshift table along with two books. The general himself was busy writing something down in one of them. Not even looking up as Tatsumi entered the room.

"Tatsumi reporting, sir." He called out and stood in attention.

He didn't get an answer for a couple of seconds. He was starting to wonder if Makeias had heard him when the general finally answered. "At ease, Tatsumi. Titles means little right now."

Tatsumi waited for Makeias to continue but he didn't. He hadn't even looked up from the book he was writing in since Tatsumi entered the room. Tatsumi choose to wait for his host to take the first step since he had been invited here. As the seconds of silence turned into minutes Tatsumi became more and more convinced that he was being mocked in some subtle way.

It wouldn't be the first time a high ranked military commander tried to annoy him. Many times before had Tatsumi noted how some army officials tried to express their disdain for him in whatever sneaky ways that they could get away with. Making him wait longer than the lowest ranked soldiers or forcing the most pathetic and insulting tasks on him.

Frankly, it baffled Tatsumi how these commanders, people who had enough achievements to be put in positions where they were responsible for many peoples lives, suddenly turned to schoolyard bullies when they had to work with him. Doing everything they could to make Tatsumi's day worse but not too much. Trying to stay far enough within their jurisdictions so that they could hide behind reasonable excuses, should they attract Esdese's attention. It was nothing more than pathethic to him.

Not that he would have needed Esdese's help to deal with most of them. Tatsumi strength had grown at an increasing pace under Esdese's training. He was pretty sure he could have easily defeated half of these naggers had it come down to combat.

However, he needed to not wear on Esdese's patience. Not yet. He coud probably get away with crippling or killing one or two of these army officials but after a while, Esdese would be forced to restrain him somehow. And that could ruin everything at this point. For even if Tatsumi grew stronger by the day, he still didn't match the rate of Esdese's insane power growth.

No, he needed to save all the leeway he could with her for the months to come. He might come to need all the patience she had with him later.

And if truth be told, he didn't care much about it anyway. He had abandoned most of his pride and self-esteem when he accepted Esdese, eighteen months ago.

He still was a bit uncertain about this situation, though. He did not think that a general ranked warrior would be as afraid of Esdese and if this morning was any indication, Makeias was not. Tatsumi felt that deserved both his respect and his pity. He finally choose to break the silence.

"Why did you call me here, general."

"I will explain in a minute." the older man said.

"What are you writing?" Tatsumi asked. Unwilling to let the awkard silence take back control now that he finally had broken it.

Once again his answer took some seconds to come. "I have been away from the capital for almost three years. During that time I have gained strength, power and wisdom. But now that I return to the capital I find that it has changed quite a bit as well. The game has changed and I need to learn the new rules." The general finally put his pencil down.

"So you could say that I am.. testing the waters." The general closed the book and smiled at Tatsumi. "With ink and paper for now. Soon in more direct ways."

He put two fingers in his mouth whistled out a piercing tone. In two seconds, the door behind Tatsumi opened and one of the giant men filled the frame of it.

Makeias threw the book he had just been writing in, which the large man catched with a long and thin arm.

"Leave nothing but ashes." Makeias said. Looking at his subordinate. Without a word the huge man turned and closed the door behind him.

Tatsumi remained still.

Makeias rose from his box. He was about a head taller than Tatsumi. Without that destroyed longcoat he didn't actually look all that shabby, Tatsumi reflected. His hair looked like a birds nest, sure, but otherwise he was tall, rather lean and wore his uniform with the authority that befit his rank. He still looked tired though. Like he hadn't slept for days.

"Can I offer you a drink? I do have some rather fine liquors I got hold of during my campaings at the borders. They are here somewhere." He looked around at the many boxes.

"Yeah,sure." Tatsumi answered. Not wishing to refuse the hospitality.

"Well then, give me a moment. Take a seat... or rather a box." He said with a gesture to the rest of the room.

Tatsumi took down a box from one of the piles and sat down on it beside the "table". "You have some rather big subordinates moving your things in the other room." He commented.

"A strange kind of people to be sure." Makeias answered as rummaged through some of the boxes in search for the alcohol."They don't speak much, have tremendous instincts and are far more agile than their big forms would have you believe. They are from some sort of nomadic tribe who held no allegiances and lived of the land. Sadly, I burned said land. As you might have heard."

"There are few in the capital who hasn't at this point." Tatsumi answered dryly. He was not sure about the circumastances around the military campaigns that had made Makeias so well-known. So he didn't want to be too quick to judge.

"We destroyed the fields, burned the forests and I let my forces consume all the wildlife. Most of the villages and cities that came in our path met the same fate. But this nomadic tribe had no allegiance to any nation. So I gave them the alternative to join my forces or live the rest of their short lifes trying to scratch their living from ashes and bones. And most of them actually choose to live and let bygones be bygones. A choice I am sure you can relate to."

Tatsumi looked at the general's back as he searched through yet another box. Unsure if that last part had been meant as a jab at him. "Refusing to face defeat **at any cost** is surely a mindset we both can relate to." he answered. Trying to see if this was a prickly man he was dealing with.

"Surely" Makeias agreed without looking up."But I have seen Esdese's forces myself. She also has some rather interesting followers. Many whom I would not consider to be human. Aha!"

He rose with a dusty bottle filled with a dark brown liquid.

"They actually make this from moldy fruits. Humans are so goddam crafty. It never seizes to amaze me." He walked over to the table made of boxes and sat down on his own box. He pulled up two mugs from a yet another box that was placed next to his "chair". Filling up both mugs with a generous amount of the liquor. Tatsumi took a sniff and winced. He had drunk strong alcoholic beverages before but this smelled like fire made into liquid.

"It burns away all regret and shame. For a while." Makeias said as he sipped on his own mug. "Something I think we both could need."

"Is this what you used to burn the forests?" Tatsumi joked.

Makeias smiled at him. "If you have lived with Esdese, you should know that nothing makes you feel more alive than the things that kill you."

Tatsumi was starting to become a bit more uncertain of the situation. Was this man trying to get information from him?

"Why did you invite me over, general?"

"Many reason. Mainly because your story is quite unique." Makeias answered without looking at Tatsumi.

"Is this about Esdese, general?"

Makeias smiled at Tatsumi. "Do you love her, Tatsumi?"

Tatsumi was about to categorize this man as just another one of the many men who wished they could charm the ice queen. Not understanding the consequences of both their attempts and what their success would actually lead to. But there was that shrewd smile that this general so often wore. He looked as if he knew something nobody else did. As if that information made the whole world more entertaining.

"Esdese is my partner. In all sense of the word." he said. Delivering his usual answer.

"That is not what I asked about." Makeias said.

"And you didn't give me a direct answer as to why you summoned me."

The general chuckled. "Well, you have an attitude that I guess in some ways could match Esdese's at times. But thats about it."

Makeias drank the rest of the content of his mug in one swig. "And that is why you are here Tatsumi. I have a feeling that you are nothing like her. Which piqued my interest."

"Hmm?" Tatsumi looked over at him.

"I think we can help each other a bit, Tatsumi. Me with my vast influence and power and you with your very peculiar position."

Now this was a game that Tatsumi knew how to play. Maybe this was a opportunity after all.

"What do you want from me then?" He answered. Sipping a bit from his mug as the general was refilling his own.

"Nothing. For now. I simply want to establish an affiliation between the two of us. A lot of things are going to change soon. When those starker times come, I want us to be able to cooperate to reach our diffrent goals." Makeias looked at Tatsumi. His gaze filled with anticipation.

Hearing the general talk about changes made Tatsumi a bit wary.

_If he knew anything about the plan then he wouldn't have offered him an alliance. He could just have blackmailed me or outright killed me without much risk_, Tatsumi thought. Then had this man have his own plans of changing the empire? Was this an ally in disguise? Or a very dangerous opponent?

"And what is your goal, general?"

"What is yours?" Makeias returned.

"I want to stop the conflict that has been ravaging this country as soon as possible by stopping the revolutionary army. This nation's people have bled enough." It was his usual answer to that question. The best lies always had a bit of truth in them.

"You do realize that your partner is one of the greatest enabler of the scenario you want to avoid. Just by being close to her you reek of death."

"I assure you that you carry the same smell of despair and decay with you, general." Tatsumi answered with a cold tinge in his voice.

Makeias smile changed character a bit. "I guess I do."

He took another gulp from his mug. "Either way, Tatsumi. My instincts tell me that there is a lot more to you. That is why I want you to think of me as an ally in the months to come. Come to me if you need help. Be it information, favours or discreet assistance."

"And in return?" Tatsumi asked.

"There will be a price each time. Your request will dictate how steep it will be."

"Ok then, lets try it," Tatsumi said. Turning to the great map that covered one of the walls. " Why is there a note attached to that village?" he asked and pointed.

"Because it is the village you come from, Tatsumi. As you well know." Makeias answered bluntly.

Tatsumi studied the note but he didn't even recognize a single letter.

"What language is it written in?" he asked.

"Don't bother. There are few who speak it now and even fewer who can read it. The last tribes who used the language were destroyed during my last campaign. Regrettably."

"What does the note say?"

Makeias only smiled at him. "Are you going to request information for the third time without even asking about the price of it."

Tatsumi hesitated. "What is the price?"

"None this time. Next time there will be one though." Makeias rose from his box. " Let's finish this for now. I have work to do and I am sure Esdese will be returning pretty soon."

Tatsumi was well aware that the general was avoiding his last question but he didn't think he would be able to get anything more out from him for now. He rose as well.

"I hope we will be seeing each other soon again. If you don't come to me, I might send for you myself sooner or later. I also have things to gain from this."

The general reached out a hand to Tatsumi. Tatsumi grabbed it firmly with his own. For a brief moment, Tatsumi could feel his entire body reject the sensation of the other man's hand. As if it was damaging him. Then in the blink of an eye, the sensation was gone. Tatsumi choose to ignore it.

He started to walk towards the door. A bit unsure of what this meant in the bigger scheme. He decided that he would have to wait and see how this general would react when everything was set in motion. If worst come to worst he could probably send Esdese after him. She would be itching for a fight of that scale so it probably wouldn't be that hard to get some kind of conflict started. Especially if the general revealed any plans to him that would not be beneficial to the empire.

"One more casual question, general Makeias."

"Speak."

He turned to the general. "You have been in the capital for two weeks from what I have heard. So why the boxes?"

"Old habits die hard. Even now, when I havn't been in the fields for over a month, I still like to be completly mobile. So that I can leave with everything I want at a moments notice. Should anything _unfortunate_ happen."

Tatsumi nodded. Not fully sure what the general was insinuating."I will see you soon again,general. Let me just give you a friendly advise before I leave. When Esdese's gaze settles upon you, roll over. Trying to defy her will inevitably lead you to misery."

Makeias simply nodded at Tatsumi as he left.

_Yeah that is what I believed as well_, the general thought as he watched the young man walk out of the doors. _But during the assembly yesterday, I found a weakness. And that changes everything._

Makeias looked at the huge map for a couple of minutes and then walked over to the door. Opening it and shouting at his subordinates.

"I want things to be prepared before tomorrow morning."

* * *

Tatsumi pushed his way through the crowd of people in order to get to the front line. He needed to be there for when Esdese returned. He needed her to see that he was sorry for last night.

It had been announced that Esdese had returned when her garrison was spotted from the outer city gate. From there it would take quite a long time to reach the one of the outer courtyards where she was expected.

Even so, the amount of people that had gathered to watch it was insane. He had to elbow his way through commoners, noblemen, military and finally representatives of Esdese's own army. It took him five minutes to just get to the front lines and even then he was pretty sure he was only allowed to keep his position because the people who had come to see Esdese knew who he was.

As soon as he managed to breath out a bit, the gates to the yard opened and the caravan of riders moved in. Spearheaded by Esdese upon one of her white steeds. A wild creature, Tatsumi knew from experience. Esdese always choose the most feisty and strong-willed creatures as her steeds. Crushing and bending their will to her command for sport.

As she rode closer to the waiting mass of people it became apparent that she actually had something being dragged on the ground behind her. Tied by a rope to her saddle. As the riders came to a halt it became apparent that it was a person being dragged behind the horse. A murmur went through the audience.

Tatsumi sighed. No matter how many times he had to watch his lover do these things he never got used to it. Nor did he think he ever would or should. But his resolve had gotten strong enough for him to be able to act as it didn't bother him. A long time ago.

Stableboys and attendants immediately rushed up and held her horse as she gracefully got off.

He could tell that she had enjoyed the ride.

It was not always easy to tell but he had learned to read the signs. When Esdese was indulging in her love for fighting and dominating she usually moved with a bit more swagger than normal. Swinging her hips a bit more and being more keen to flaunt what she got. Even though she never thought that much about it, Esdese was well aware of how beautiful she was.

She had always liked to show off but during times like these she often started doing it on a more basic level as welll. He wasn't even sure if she was aware that she was doing it.

"I have returned to the capital." She announced to the waiting crowd. Receiveing applauds and cheers.

Tatsumi noticed how the person that had been dragged on the ground moved slightly. _Poor bastard_, he thought. At least he could have had the fortune to hit his head on a rock early on so that he didn't have to experience the whole ride. It was actually rather amazing that he was alive at all.

"..and I have brought a defeated member of night raid with me."

The applauds and cheers turned into a deafining roar of approval from the audience.

Tatsumi felt his breathing stop. He looked over to the body. The person slowly turned her head over. Making Tatsumi able to see the ears on her head. _Oh gods no..._

Her body and clothes had been so mangled and destroyed by the ride that he hadn't been able to even recognize her. Lionelle's extreme regenration capabilities had however started to get Leone back to a somewhat recognizable apperance now. Almost. Her arms and legs were wrapped in chains but her body was too damaged and broken to have any chance of even breaking a thread.

Esdese slowly walked over to Leone to the sound of shouts and cheers. Smiling a satisfied smile at the broken form. "Did you enjoy the ride, criminal? I know that the eastern roads are a bit bumpy and rough but you seem to have managed."

She let Leone keep her teigu on so that she wouldn't die from the ride, Tatsumi realized. Keeping her barely alive through the whole journey. Tatsumi felt sicker than he had in a long while.

Esdese reached down and grabbed Leone's head. Lifting her up until their eyes were at the same level. "What happened to all that spunk you had earlier. You can't be tired already? We haven't even started talking yet." she said in a mockingly concerned voice.

Leone mumbled something inaudible. Too weak to even form a sentence. Esdese looked at her face with satisfaction. "But I must say your face was rather pretty. Not anymore though."

It's happening again, Tatsumi thought. Despairing. Just like it had with Mine. His plan had gone horribly wrong. Why had Esdese met Leone? He had even gone through all the trouble of checking that the base he informed the capital about was deserted. What had gone wrong?

A group of soldiers from Esdese's own army were marching out to meet the general. Bellany walking in the front with a proud smile on her face.

"With that being said, this teigu's regenerative abilities are quite formidable." Esdese went on. "It looks like you are already out of critical condition."

She looked down at Leone's body. "Which reminds me." Esdese said as she grabbed the teigu attached around Leone's crushed hips."This is imperial property now."

She tore of Lionelle from Leone's body. Immediately Leone's body spasmed a couple of times as her features returned to normal at an extremly fast pace. Making some people in the watching crowd let out a "Ohhh" in wonder.

Without looking away from Leone, Esdese threw the teigu over her shoulder. Straight into Bellany's arms. "I will come visit you in a day or two when you have regained some more energy. Then we can have a _long good talk_ about night raid and you. Now I have a lot of things I need to do. I have reports to write, subordinates to instruct.."

She leaned in and whispered in Leone's ear.

".. and your old comrade in my bed."

Leone grit her teeth. Suddenly she planted her feets in the ground. She tore free from Esdeath's grip and headbutted the genral straight in the face. Esdeath didn't even bother with avoiding her. Leone used all her strength but without Lionelle's power she might as well have tried to headbutt a brick wall. Her own face being the only one to take any damage. Esdese's head didn't even move from the impact.

Esdese simply smiled at Leone as she recoiled from the impact. Watching her fall down to the ground. Unable to stand up by herself. Esdese turned to Bellany.

"Take the criminal to the dungeons. I will come and deal with her personally later. And have that teigu ready. I intend to make full use of this woman's capabilities for it's regenerative abilities." Esdese said with closed eyes. Adjusting her hair with one of her hands.

Yes, general" Bellany said with a happy smile. Saluting her commander as she did.

As the soldiers took Leone and dragged her off, Esdese turned to the crowd. Her eyes immediately meeting Tatsumi's. Indicating that she had known that he had been there the whole time. She started walking towards him. The crowd moved away from Tatsumi as if he was poison. Afraid to get in the way of the ice queen and her obvious destination.

Tatsumi was stone faced, lost in thought. How was he going to solve this? Could he beg Esdese to let Leone go? No, that would never work. Could he somehow get her out? Should he try to break her out? Jeopardizing the fall of the entire empire in the process. Tatsumi's thoughts were spinning out of control.

Esdese walked up to him and wrapped her arms around him. Putting her lips on his. Proudly starting to make out with him in front of more than a hundred onlookers. Happy to demonstrate what was hers and why. Tatsumi's arms reached up and embraced her. His body meeting her advances by mere reflex. Trained by himself to do so.

The crowd started to cheer as they watched their greatest warrior meet her love again after returning from yet another victory in the empire's name. Esdese pulled back from his face and looked at his vacant expression with a genuinly compassionate smile.

"I have been looking forward to spending another night with you for so long now that I feel like I would tear down the sun right now if I could." she said. Hugging him even tighter.

"Are you sure you aren't able to?" Tatsumi answered in an empty voice. Feeling as if the world was crumbling around him as panick ruled his mind.

With only twelve hours left until the empire would start to burn.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**Damn that anime adaption turned into a trainwreck towards the end. If anyone by any chance has stumbled over this without reading the manga then I really recommend that you give it a try. If you liked the anime you're going to love the manga and its still going strong.**

**The mistake I did with this chapter is that I decided where I wanted it to end before I started writing it. And then some scenes simply grew much bigger than I intended. I actually had to postpone one scene since I just couldn't fit it into this chapter. That is why this chapter is so focused on just Esdeath and Tatsumi. I simply had to focus on the scenes that needed to happen before the end I had decided on before I started.**

**I do still intend to release another chapter before the year is over. but it will probably be a bit smaller than this one. This one grew to be way too big.**

**Once again, THANKS A LOT for reading. I had originally just intended to write 4-5 chapters of this but now that so many people have taken an interest in it I feel really motivated to fully develop and explore this setting. The mere fact that some of you found my story to even be deserving of your words and input in the form of comments/reviews is simply amazing to me. I'm grateful to my core. Thanks.**

**Happy holidays to each and every one of you. Take care of each other.**


	4. The night before the storm 1

**Well then. I now have my first officialy missed deadline on this story.**

**Sorry about that. This chapter is split into 2 parts since these entries to the story are a bit shorter than I want my regular chapters to be.**

* * *

**The night before the storm. (1/2)**

The dining hall was almost completely quiet. The occasional clink of the silverware and the steps of the attendants bringing the food was the only sound heard. Tatsumi was sitting silent on one side of the long table with a single untouched glass of wine in front of him. Incursio resting against the back of his chair. Deeply lost in rapid thoughts. Debating within his mind.

On the other side sat Esdese. Her cap placed on the table beside her as she ate from the splendid dinner brought by the maids and waiters. Calmly enyoing her meal while making plans for the night in her head. Casting a few glances at Tatsumi every now and then. Completely content with just appreciating the moment. Today had been a great day and the best was yet to come.

Tatsumi was wrangling with the dilemma of the moment. Not really paying much mind to Esdese.

Should he try to solve this? Could he solve it? Those were the biggest questions that he was trying to determine an answer to. Leone's capture had been extremly untimely. Everything was going to begin in the early morning tomorrow. Eighteen months of planning and the destruction of the empire was on the line. Was it really prudent to try and save her if he didn't have a really big chance to success?

And he couldn't even think of how he would do it. Leone was now under strict guard, not only by Esdese's subordinates but probably by the great general's imperial guard as well.

He didn't have any contacts that could get her out and no allies that were strong enough to break her free without running a big risk of being caught. And he didn't know if any of them would keep their mouths shut when tortured.

He might be able to do it himself. He had gained a lot of strength under Esdese's training. And he had mastered powers and tricks that he had kept hidden. Even from her. The more he thought about it, the more certain he became that he would be able to break her out with some luck.

And that only filled him with more regret.

The problem was that if he did so, if he broke her out through force and then set her free before anyone could react, the empire would probably figure out that it had been he who had done it. Even if he didn't leave any witnesses, chances are that they would run into some more powerful people. And if they didn't, he would still be the first suspect of the jailbreak. His absence would start to be questioned and he would be put under surveillance. Everything he had been doing the last eighteen months would be thoroughly researched.

He couldn't run away with Leone either. The plan would fall to pieces if he was not stationed near Esdese when everything began.

No, if he broke her out, the empire would realize that it had been him pretty quickly. Could he hide behind Esdese's protection when that time came? He looked up at her from the still untouched wineglass.

She was delicately cutting through the meat she had been brought. Eating it up with elegant manners.

Sure, she would probably punish him in some way but that was a small price to pay, Tatsumi reasoned. She would also not allow anyone to take him away from her so his position at her side would still be secured. The question was how much she would start to restrain his movements? If everything was gonna play out as he had planned, then he needed to be close to her but he also needed to relatively mobile. Would she allow him to remain as "free" as he was now?

Esdese felt Tatsumi's gaze and rose her own to meet it, smiling. "Are you sure that you don't want something to eat?" she asked as she took another bite. "I don't want you to run out of energy later on."

"No thanks, I'm fine." He answered. He was way too stressed out to have any appetite right now. "Esdese?"

"Mmm?"

"What would you do if people from within the empire came after me?"

"I won't allow anyone else to hurt you. If you are close to me you will always be safe, Tatsumi." she said as she put her knife down. Picking up a serviette.

"Even if it was the empire itself that hunted me?"

Esdese's thoughts immediately went to the Night raid member locked up in the dungeons. Was he planning to do something stupid again?

She wiped her already clean lips on the serviette while she kept her eyes on him.

She was certain that there was no love lost between Tatsumi and Night raid anymore. It had taken a while but in the end he had given her the one person who had cared the most for him in that organization. His strongest bond to them. And she had teared that bond apart so thoroughly that the torturemasters still told tales about it. She had spent almost four days in the torture chambers that time. Not even taking any pauses for sleep. She had even impressed herself during that session.

"Your criminal record has been completly erased and you are now part of the imperial army's special forces. I know that parts of the empire still despise you but they won't dare to hurt you now that you belong to me."

"What if I did something stupid?" Tatsumi asked and looked down at his glass.

"Don't." Her voice grew harder.

She could imagine what kind of actions he was referring to. Even if she was pretty sure that he wouldn't try to do something with the prisoner.

Tatsumi had a history of insubordination against the imperial military, even after he came over to her side. In most cases it was nothing serious. He had gotten into a couple of fist fights during his time in the capital but he had always triumphed and had always provided proof of provocations. So she simply let it slide, most of the times. Warning him publicly while praising his abilities to cause damage privately. She loved to watch his proficiency for destruction. And he still had potential to grow so much more.

However, there had been a couple of times when he had done something really stupid. When she actually had been forced to work a bit to get him out of the situation. She was confident that she could get him out of any situation he got himself into if he just did as she said. In worst case, she might have to strike a deal with the prime minister but she would do that if it was the only way.

She reached over for her own wineglass. "I' am a general of the empire and I will uphold the duties that title places on me." She sniffed the wine.

"But I will destroy anyone who tries to hurt you." she concluded with closed eyes and drank deep from the wine.

Tatsumi couldn't get any closer to his actual question and he didn't dare to be more specific.

There was only one solution to this now.

He could not risk trying to free Leone. Not now. Not yet. So he needed to postpone this problem. Esdese had reserved Leone for herself so no one else would touch her. So the best way to buy time now would be to keep Esdese's attention away from her. Tatsumi knew that he was the only person that could do that.

First of all he needed to talk to Leone though. He needed to make sure that she didn't do anything dumb that would make Esdese come over to her. He needed to meet her somehow.

She needed to know that help might come. Otherwise, she might be searching for a way to take her own life so that she won't give up any information during torture.

Which meant that he needed to get away from Esdese for a while. Making that happen would require some improvisation on his part.

"Anyway, I need to go and do some errands now."

He could feel how her gaze fixed on him without even looking at her. Suddenly there was a force behind it.

"Do you think I will let you run away, now that I have you here with me? After you left me alone last night?" Esdese said. Putting down the now empty wineglass. "You won't be leaving my presence for a while, Tatsumi."

"You sound like a clingy teenager." he teased. Trying to start a competition around if she could let him leave her or not.

She didn't take the bait though. She simply smiled a little more menacingly at him. Not much though. It was still a gentle expression.

Tatsumi changed strategy. "If you don't let me go and do things on my own now and then, you will destroy any chance I have of becoming as powerful as you wish."

"You will have your freedom, Tatsumi. Just not right now."

_That is a broad definition of freedom_, Tatsumi thought. Changing strategy again.

"But this is actually part of my duties to the imperial army. I have some tasks I need to get done before the night comes."

"Who does the jaegers answer to, Tatsumi?"

"You."

"You are a part of the jaegers and they are a part of my forces. I dictate what their duties are. You already know this." She put her tableware down. Done with her meal. "Are you trying to avoid me, Tatsumi?" She gave him a look that was more stern than hurt.

He realized that the last strategy had been a mistake. So where should he go from here? Telling her that he was avoiding her would hurt her a bit but if she knew he was hiding from her, then that would probably set off her instincts as a hunter as well. Then he would definetly not get away. No, a bit of truth would get him further here.

"I have already told you that I am not avoiding you." he said. Looking her straight in the eyes. "And I am aware of what you have been doing to entertain yourself when I was not around."

Esdese's expression did not change.

"Come on. You are just being more paranoid because we have been seperated for so long" he said. Meeting her gaze steadily. He needed to seem determined himself if he was gonna get anywhere here. "You're acting like you did when I first came over to you."

He rose up and swung Incursio over his back. Esdese was watching him closely. If he took a step towards the door now she would probably intercept him in the blink of an eye. She had always liked to get physical with him. In all the definitions of the term.

So instead he opted for a diffrent plan. He walked around the table and up to her side as she remained sitting. Her gaze following him all the way. Then he went down on one knee so that he was looking up at her instead of vice versa. He placed his hand on the top of one of hers.

"Please trust me. I will come back to you in an hour." She continued to watch him with a stern expression. "You will strangle me if you can't let me out of your sight for an hour, everytime we have been apart for a while."

He slowly stroked her hand with his thumb as he returned her gaze. She looked down on him for a couple of seconds before she closed her eyes and sighed. She rose her free hand and started to lovingly stroke his hair.

"I will give you an hour. If you take longer than that I will come hunting after you."

He smiled. He reached up and kissed her lightly on the lips before standing up. "Then I better hurry!" he said and started to walk towards the door.

She had to give him his privacy, Esdese reasoned in her mind. She had learned this during their time together. Their relationship worked much better if she gave him some private moments. And he had actually managed to get her worried when he started to talk about her strangling him. That was a thing that always bothered her.

She knew that even those around her sometimes got crushed by her ways, wherever she intended it or not. She had waded through hoardes of subordinates during her military career. The jaegers, the three beasts and countless others had suffered terribly because they had tried to follow her. Trying to follow her ways and her command. Ultimately not being strong enough to survive her way of life.

She usually didn't pay it much thought. She found it regrettable but in the end they had not been strong enough and had not been able to realize that in time. It was how the world worked. But she would not allow the same thing to happen to Tatsumi. If he was not strong enough then she would make him strong enough. She knew he had the potential for it. Until that potential was reached, she would protect him from everything that she didn't know if he could handle. Even her own wishes at times.

"Tatsumi."

He turned around in the doorway.

She reached out with an open hand to him as she was rising up and picking up her cap. "Incursio."

She still wasn't sure where he was heading but if he was going out to cause trouble within the empire, then she would limit it.

Tatsumi didn't hesitate. Reaching over with his hand, he grabbed and threw the sword to her in one fluid motion. She catched it without looking.

"See you in an hour." he said with a smile and walked out. He didn't need Incursio for this. He had managed to get the time he needed.

* * *

Tatsumi had been right in his assumptions that Esdese's own forces would be guarding the part of the prison that he was heading for as well. He met a checkpoint of her soldiers before he even reached the inner parts of the prison that were patrolled by the imperial guard.

"We are gonna have to search you for weapons either way." the officer said as he read through Tatsumi's identification. The authority given by being a jaeger didn't help Tatsumi much here since the soldiers had orders from a general.

The group of soldiers seemed a bit uncertain of what to do though. It was clear that they didn't want to let him pass through but they were still hesitant to deny him access. He could understand their position. It seemed like they knew who he was. Which meant that they both knew of his past and had to be aware of his standing with the general who had given them their orders.

Tatsumi didn't recognize a single one of the soldiers. Chances were that Esdese would learn about this visit but as long as no one knew what he was going to tell Leone, then it didn't matter that much.

"What is your reason for visiting the prison." The officer asked Tatsumi as he was being searched.

"I'am going to visit the lowest level." he answered with a monotone voice. "The imperial guard has been notified already. They have prepared an escort for me."

"Very well, if the imperial guard will be with you during your entire visit, then I will allow it. Let him through."

He walked past the blockade of guards and went further down into the dungeons. After walking for about ten minutes, he reached the second blockade of soldiers. This time the imperial guard. Stationed at the entrance to the more heavily guarded parts of the prison.

A large man was standing in the front of the checkpoint. Waiting for him to come closer before speaking. He carried the marks of an officer.

"Tatsumi of the jaegers, I'am Juro of the Imperial guard's prison sector. I will be your escort through you visit." the man bellowed. He was in his fifties and looked to be a bit overweight. But Tatsumi knew that the man wouldn't be a part of the imperial guard if he could not handle himself in combat.

Tatsumi nodded to the man. "Lead the way."

The man turned and started walking. Tasumi followed in his footsteps. Walking past all the soldiers and further down into the dungeon.

The lower they got, the damper the air became. Screams could be heard in the far distance. Tatsumi waited until they reached a long corridor before he started to look around. Ensuring that they were alone. He then walked up to the side of the man.

"How are your kids doing?" he asked in a kind voice.

"Fine, thanks to you. I can't thank you enough, Tatsumi." the big man said. All strict military demeanor gone.

"You have helped me out a lot in return so don't mention it.** To anyone**." Tatsumi said with a smile. Letting the last part get a bit sharper than the rest of the sentence.

"Of course, but I must admit that I'm a little bit worried about this. You aren't gonna do something that will get us in trouble, right? It's me and my friends they will start to question first if something happens." the man said as they walked on.

"Don't worry about it. I just want to talk to her. There won't be any dangerous things happening during any of your shifts. At least not because of me." Tatsumi said. Contrary to what most people believed, he still tried to take care of his own.

"That is good to know. It would normally be two people escorting you but my co-worker did unfortunetly feel a bit under the weather after his dinner." Juro said in a complaining tone.

"How unfortunate." Tatsumi answered with a smile.

"Certainly. And it was very sudden as well. So it will only be the two of us today since I didn't have any time to get another guard." the older man went on.

"I hope your co-worker will get better soon." It would not do if the absent guard started to get really sick. That would attract attention.

"It's must just be something he ate. He will be better tomorrow." Juro reassured with a wave of his right hand.

"Good. How is the prisoner?"

"Well, to say that she looked bad when we got her would be a huge understatement. It would be faster to name the parts of her that weren't damaged than the parts of her that were. But since then, we have had some really talented doctors to fix her up a bit and she have been force-fed the amount of food and medicine that is necessary for her survival. The jailmasters seems to be afraid that they will incur Esdese's wrath if they let her latest toy die before she have had her fun."

"Understandable.". This was nothing new to Tatsumi. Most of the military feared Esdese's anger.

"Well then. Here we are." Juro said as they reached a heavily fortified iron door. He started to unlock it with a set of diffent keys."Do you want me to go in there with you?"

"No. Stay here. I will come out to you when I'm done."

"Suit yourself." Juro said as he opened the door. Letting tatsumi step inside before closing it behind him.

The prison cell was cold and dark. It was lit up by a single torch. Hanging from the left wall. The room lacked any form of window and was completly empty. With the exception of Leone, who was chained to the wall in front of him. She was sitting down. Her hands locked to the wall with short chains. She was slouched forward and seemed to be asleep. Most of her body was wrapped in diffrent kind of bandages and band-aids. She really looked defeated, Tatsumi reflected.

His big sis. She had saved his life earlier and now he would do the same for her again.

Tatsumi slowly moved closer to her. "Si-..Leone."

She didn't react. He reached his hand out to touch her shoulder. His fingers were just about to touch her skin when she moved. With her back against the wall she kicked him in the stomach with both her feet. Mustering up whatever little strength she had left.

Tatsumi was pushed back a meter. That hurt a lot. But not much on a physical level.

"Leone.." he said silently. Looking at how she struggled to get back into sitting position with pity.

"Have you come to finish me or just gloat, TRAITOR!" she screamed at him. It was amazing how she still had all this energy, Tatsumi thought.

"Leone, I don't want to see you suffer."

"Well, then you better just turn around and walk away. That seems to be the way you deal with things that makes you uncomfortable these days.", she scowled at him.

"That is not true." Tatsumi defended. His face filled with regret.

"Ohh yeah? It looks terrible much like that from down here." Her chains rattled as she finally managed to get into a somewhat upright position. "You just choose to suddenly be done with all the fighting and struggles we faced together, In order to go live in comfort and safety with the enemy. Throwing away all we fought for like a used towel."

"I didn't choose death. That is all I did." Tatsumi said. _I didn't stop fighting, _he thought_. _But he didn't say it_. _He didn't dare to reveal too much down here. Where the imperial guard might be listening to every word he said.

"I think you have done much more than just that. I can imagine whose mark that is on your neck!"

Too late, Tatsumi realized that he hadn't covered up the bite mark left by Esdese the day prior. He cursed in his mind and put a hand over the still healing wound.

"Ohh your hand can't cover up the extent of your betrayal, Tatsumi. There is not a single spy in the revolutionary army that does not know who Esdese shares her bed with." she growled. "If you had just been unable to face death everyday and left Night raid, I wouldn't even have been angry with you."

Tatsumi tried to cut through the chase. He knew that he would not be able to explain, much less defend, his choices and actions down here. It was too risky.

"Listen Leone, I have come to tell you something important."

The only answer he got was her glare.

"Whenever you get a chance to prolong this, I want you to do it. Don't try to do anything stupid. Do everything you can to stay alive for as long as possible."

"Ohh yeah? You want me to take the same path as you did? Sorry, I don't think I will receive the same priveleged treatment as you. Have you not heard what happened to Lubbock. Or maybe Esdese spared you the details."

Tatsumi clenched his teeth. The worst part of it was that she was not compeletly wrong. Esdese had informed him of Lubbock's death but she had spared him any details. He had found out those on his own.

"Just listen to me Leone. I will keep Esdese occupie-"

"Sorry Tatsumi but some of us actually prefer to die with dignity. Even if you find it unpleasant that we do."

_You don't have to die_, he thought but he couldn't say it. He also knew that the end that was awaiting Leone had nothing dignifying about it.

"Dignity means little when you are rotting in the ground. Besides Leone, we were never anything more than murderers and assassins. We don't deserve any dignity."

"We stood up for yours! The revolutionary army wanted us to send assassins after you but we defended you. We swore to them that you would not turn your back on us like that. And then when we finally got a message from you, it all turned out to be a trap!"

She had not meant to be so harsh on Tatsumi. She had not planned to throw this in his face but she couldn't help it now that he was here. Looking completly fine, wearing imperial clothes and having the mark of a love bite on his neck.

"She loved you Tatsumi!" Furious tears were running down Leone's patched up face now. "Did that not matter to you at all?! She was the one who never gave up on you. She was the one who refused to believe that you had betrayed us. She was the one who made us keep up hope about you. And what did she get from that? One of the most horrible ends a human can get."

Tatsumi thought's involuntarily traveled to a caring voice, light kisses, small gentle hands and pink hair. He wanted to weep.

Leone saw how a sad expression had formed on Tatsumi's face. But that only fueled her anger further. Had he not thought about this himself? Had he not mourned her like they had? Had he ignored what happened to Mine completly?

"Ohh so you haven't heard. I guess the ice bitch didn't tell you the details about how she completly destroyed the person who believed the most in your decency. But we heard, Tatsumi. We heard everything. The empire was very proud to let the world know about what happened to their enemies."

Esdese had actually not told Tatsumi about how Mine had met her end. His imagination had done that for him. It was rare for her to be tactful enough to respect other people's weaknesses but at that time she had still been overprotective of Tatsumi. Afraid that he would break. And it had not been hard to see that he was traumatized back then.

"Let me tell you about some of the details." Leone almost screamed. Her face ridden with tears. "Esdese apparently felt that your girlfriend posed some kind of rival to her in some carnal way so she began with the most painful form of castration she could come up with. She actually used some hooks and a-

"ENOUGH!" Tatsumi roared. His nails were digging into the palms of his clenched fists so hard that they drew blod. _I have come too far to back down now! I'am almost there, _he thought.

Leone was taken aback by how Tatsumi had changed in front of her. He had tears in his eyes but he looked more furious than she had ever seen him. His entire presence radiated indignation. Leone realized that this was not the same boy she had met in a bar a long time ago.

Months of supressed animosity momentarily surfaced in Tatsumi.

"A storm is coming." he said, forgetting all caution. "And it's fires will rise higher than anything."

He was almost about to tell her everything. He wanted to do it so bad. He wanted to let her know that it had never been a trap. He had tried to reach out to them. To contact them for help but everything had gone wrong. Just like now. He wanted her to know that he had tried to save Mine as well. And that he had fought with everything he had during these last eighteen months.

He wanted to have at least one person in the world who could still believe in his humanity.

But in the end, he regained his composure. He remembered where he was. And that it was not worth risking the whole plan just to sate his selfish wish for some small form of redemption.

"No matter what happens Leone, you will never be of use to the revolutionary army if you are dead. Remember that."

He started to leave. He didn't know if he had managed to get the message across but he couldn't think of anything more to say. Staying here only seemed to aggravate Leone. And make himself lose control. He needed to get out.

When Leone saw how Tasumi started to leave she felt how her rage faded. She realized that she had used it to supress all the sadness that now came bubbling up."Is that all we were to you, Tatsumi? Just murderers and sinners?

He stopped at the door. He searched for words but couldn't find them. He realized just how worked up he was. This had gotten to him much more than he wanted to admit. Finally he managed to scramble something together in his head. It was not adequate but it was the truth.

"You were everything to me" he said and left the room. Hearing how Leone started to sob behind him.

My best parts died with Mine, he thought bitterly as he walked back out to the world that was ruled by his lover and her kind.

But when the first sunlight of the morning would come, the results of his endurance would begin.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**As I said, a shorter entry this time. I should have realized that celebrations,family,friends and alcohol would hamper my productivity when I first set my deadline. Sorry again. The next half will be a bit longer and won't take as much time. 6-7 days at most.**

**A bit more drama in this chapter. Everything is being set up for the main story to take off. **

**A kind person reminded me with a review of how tricky it can be to write ocs. Not that there were any big ones in this specific entry.**

** Unlike the canon characters a bigger oc needs to be defined and requires characterization. All these things that the canon characters already have. Yet I believe that people come here to mainly read about the canon characters in diffrent scenarios. And frankly, that is what I want to write about but the ocs can sometimes be necessary to make that happen. **

**So it creates these weird moments when an oc needs an entire paragraph for themselves while what is supposed to be the main characters only gets a couple of lines. I will continue to try and make it more balanced while still keeping everything working. If you think the ocs start to take too much room then let me know with a review/comment and I will try to limit it even more.**

**As always, thanks A LOT for reading my little story. Every new follower/favorite and every new comment/review is extremly encouraging.**

**Until next time, have a good day and take care of each other.**


	5. The night before the storm 2

**Ha! On time with this one. **

**Let's make that a habit.**

* * *

**The night before the storm. (2/2)**

The huge corridors felt a little more empty than they usually did for Tatsumi as he walked back towards Esdese's living quarters. He had now regained his composure fully but a lingering feeling of loneliness still remained with him.

Not that he was alone. The humongous corridor was as wide as a street and there was plenty of people walking by and around him. Saluting him for his rank without getting much of a respons from him.

Now he actually longed for Esdese's company. He knew that she would easily wash away these feelings of loneliness with her unquenchable, albeit mischievous, love for him. In the past she had sworn that she was never gonna allow him to be lonely as he was the only human alive she wanted as her mate. Now he involuntarily just wanted to go and let her uphold that promise once again. Letting him forget about the world for a while.

And that longing for her filled him with self-loathing.

He had, in some parts, accepted her as his lover by now. Her. She who had hurt and destroyed so many of his friends. She who stood for so many of the things he wanted to put an end to.

Yet some parts of him had started to cherish all her other character traits so much that he at times forgot who his lover actually was. What she was.

At times he stopped to think of her as the perpetrator of sorrow and suffering that she was and only saw her as his caring, sadistic lover. And for that, Tatsumi felt that he deserved this loneliness.

Thankfully, he needed to remain in the position as her lover if everything was gonna work out in the months to come. That fact allowed him to not think about the moral implications of enjoying Esdese's company. For now.

"Tatsumi!" he heard a kind and familiar voice from behind him. He turned around to see Wave come walking up to him. "Hi, Wave" he ansvered in a tired voice.

Wave walked up to Tatsumi and put a hand on his shoulder. Looking genuinly concerned. "Are you ok, man? I heard that you were there when Esdese returned today."

"Who told you?" Tatsumi asked as he started to walk towards his destination again. Wave walking beside him.

"Bellany"

"My biggest fan." he said with a crooked smile.

"Yeah. She was over in one of the barracks, talking loudly about how you had seemed completely devastated about seeing Esdese do her job." Tatsumi gave him a sharp glance but Wave raised his hand defensively. "Her words, not mine."

"Can you think of a single time when she haven't tried to degrade me when there was a chance for her to do so?"

"Nope. Her stance on you is pretty well known, so most people take her rumors about you with a pinch of salt. But you were there, right?"

"Yeah. I was waiting for her return in the front row."

"Is everything okay, Tatsumi?" Wave said. Repeating his initial question with concern.

"Another criminal crushed by the empire, right?" Tatsumi answered with a sad smile. "Another villain meeting an horrible end."

"Cut the crap." Wave said. Sounding annoyed. "I've been your friend for a year and a half now, Tatsumi. I know you better than that. Did you know her?"

"Yeah." he answered in a empty voice.

"Are you okay?"

Tatsumi thought for a second and decided to tell Wave a part of the truth. He needed someone to confide in and his behaviour would seem more reasonable to Wave if he knew parts of the truth. So that he didn't start to make up his own theories about his behaviour.

"I don't know. She has helped me many times and I would actually have been dead if it wasn't for her. She might have been nothing more than a simple assassin but somehow I think she deserved better than this." he answered. Letting some of his sorrow come through in his voice.

Wave put his hand on Tatsumi's shoulder again.

"I just feel like she was unlucky in the end. Unlucky to have ended up here. Unlucky to have walked the road she walked. Unlucky to have ended up in this conflict. I just feel like she got dealt a bad hand from the start and then just tried to make the best of it."

"Like so many of us do." Wave said. He could now see just how sad his friend was. "Is there anything I can do to help you handle this, Tatsumi?"

_You could help me destroy it all. _"No" he said. "Some battles you simply have to fight alone."

"You sure?" Wave was very worried about his friend by now.

"Just don't tell anybody about my concerns." he said. Putting on a more nonchalant act."I have enough people spreading rumors about me without anyone knowing that I harbour concern for Night raid members."

"Of course." Wave thought about his promise to the prime minister. Tatsumi's relations and interactions with Night raid was certainly one of the things that he had been asked to report about. But he was unsure if it was necessary in this case. To his understanding, their deal was mainly about helping Esdese's love life work. He didn't know if this really was relevant. Then again, better to be safe than sorry.

"So I heard that my plan backfired by the way." he said in a joking tone. Trying to lighten the mood.

"So you did have your party? Sadly, it might be like you say. Since I wasn't with Esdese at the time." Tatsumi said. Happy to put his mind on diffrent matter.

"I thought we agreed that it was unwise to keep avoiding her."

"It wasn't voluntarily. I fell asleep outside of the castle without her knowing where I was."

"Oh... ,well if it is any consolation, I had a lot of fun." A cheeky grin found it's way to Wave's face.

"I'm happy that at least one of us gained something from it." Tatsumi said dryly.

He was about to go on about how the plan never had seemed to have been about his problem at all but he stopped himself when an all to familiar sense of pressure came down on him. She was there.

He turned his eyes forward and sure enough, at the far end of the enormous corridor Esdese was approaching them. Carrying Incursio in one of her hands. The crowd parting away in front of her. Soldiers standing at attention as they greeted her and noblemen saluting and bowing to her. She had an officer walking beside her. Reading something to her from a paper but she didn't seem to pay much attention to it.

Wave followed Tatsumi's gaze and saw the general. He started to put his hand in the air to try and get her attention but Tasumi stopped him.

"She has already seen us, Wave." She was too far away for them to be able to see where her eyes were looking but he could feel it. She had spotted him and she kept her gaze on him.

Tatsumi started his routine internallly. He focused in on a singular mental image. He forced away all his ill will and centered his emotions around all the things he liked about Esdese and the things she made happen. He took complete control of himself and fixated on the role as the ice queen's partner.

"Hey, I know that I said that I didn't want to try and distract her yesterday but I feel like I owe you one after last night. You want me to do something?" Wave asked. "If you need some time to prepare something I can probably improvise something I need her help with."

"It's fine, Wave. I met her this morning before she moved out. I think we're good."

After about three minutes they reached each other. Wave stood at attention and saluted her happily. Tatsumi followed his example a bit more leisurely. Esdese walked up and embraced Tatsumi without saying a word to the others. Leaving the officer scratching his head awkwardly while Wave tried to send the man a relaxing smile. He had gotten used to his commander's and Tatsumi's relationship a long time ago.

"Your hour was about to end so I came looking for you" She said as she pulled away from him slightly. A little bit louder than necessary, Tatsumi felt. Since the people who were walking by were slowing down just to see what was going on.

"Didn't even trust me enough to give me a whole hour, huh?" he said. His smile had a bitter tinge to it.

"Ohh, don't be like that." she said, returning his smile. She didn't move away from him much. Still staying well within his personal space without giving any sign of moving away. She pressed Incursio against his chest."I can give you another two or three minutes if you so desire."

"Nah, I'm fine." he answered and grabbed Incursio.

Wave was watching Esdese and Tatsumi closely. Trying to get a good understanding of the mood between those two. Attentive to any chance he had of making things go along smoother. Remembering the prime minister's words.

"General!" He said and saluted her again with a smile. "Congratulations to the success during your intel-gathering outside of the capital today." He immediately realized that this probably was the worst direction he could have lead the conversation in.

Esdese turned her head towards Wave and smiled her usual confident smile. Still keeping one arm wrapped around Tatsumi's head. "Thanks,Wave. I guess congratulations indeed are in order. I never expected that I would get to have so much fun on a mere tracking expedition."

Wave threw a worried glance at Tatsumi but the boy didn't seem to be fazed by it as far as he could see. He took his chance to lead the discussion away before it got any worse.

"I hope we didn't disturb your sleep with our party last night, commander."

"Well, I won't say that I was in a good mood last night" Tatsumi felt how the arm that was on his shoulder grabbed hold of his shirt. "..but your party did not play a big part in it." she said and adjusted her hair with the hand that was not on Tatsumi. "Besides, if I wanted you to stop then I would have made you stop. Don't worry about it."

"That is good to know, commander."

Esdese turned to the officer. Momentarily letting go of Tatsumi. "I will listen to the rest of the report tomorrow. For now you are relieved, go fetch yourself something to eat."

"Yes, general!" The man saluted Esdese and walked away. She turned to Wave.

"I have quite a lot of things I want to do with Tatsumi now, Wave." she said casually. Not at all ashamed of the obvious insinuations. "Go and watch over that little group of yours for a while. I'm sure that training them takes a lot of time. After that you can go on with your leisure time. I have no specific tasks for you."

"Yes, commander. Just as you say, I need all the time I can get with them. The life they have chosen won't be easy but they can still grow a lot more."

"I can admire the wish to see someone's potential fully reached." Esdese said and gave Tatsumi a glance.

"Thank you, general Esdese." Wave said with joyful enthusiasm.

Esdese smiled at Wave and gave him a slight nod to the left. Signaling for him to leave. Dismissing him wih the small gesture. Wave turned and walked off.

Esdese watched him for a second before turning around and starting to walk towards her own chambers. "Tatsumi."

"Yeah." Tatsumi answered. Giving his friend a last look before walking after her. Wave was doing strange signs with his hands that Tatsumi guessed meant good luck.

He walked up to her side. Walking with her through civilian areas were always a strange experience. Most of the civilians moved away fast at the sight of Esdese's uniform. Afraid that she was out on official business. Other more brave people stayed around, trying to look unpertubed. A few even shouted her name or encouraging words at times. She rarely payed it any mind. At some rare occasions she favoured some of the bystanders with a glance, or even rarer, a wave with her arm. Anyone even remotly involved with the military directly stood in attention as soon as she entered their vicinity.

Tatsumi walked beside her in a much more relaxed demeanor. After all this time, he still found some childish joy in being able to annoy the imperial military with how careless he could be around her. While they always tried to be as attentive and respectful to her as they could be. Fearing what a mistake in her presence might lead to. Esdese herself was only happy that Tatsumi acted so casual around her. He was the only person that she didn't want to fear her in any way.

He was ,however, a bit worried about her right now. He didn't know how pent-up she was. Leone might have taken the brunt of that force but he didn't know. He decided to start a more serious conversation.

"It seems like a certain little counsellor of yours has been running around spreading more rumors about me again."

Esdese gave him a look somewhere between annoyed and tired.

"Hey, I don't mean to come whining to you about all my little problems." he said and threw up his hands in a defensive gesture. "I just find it strange how you let her get away with it while you punish others for far smaller offences."

"I have told you before, Tatsumi. If she said anything of that in my presence she would regret it. But if I'm gonna crush everyone who talks ill about us two when we are not around then the military will suffer terrible losses. Besides, don't pay attention to the opinion of the ground you walk on, sweet thing. It will make you easier to hurt. "

"You know that I can't see it that way, Esdese."

"Then do something about it. Bellany is never gonna dare to hurt you."

"Are you actually telling me to go after your subordinate?"

"I will not tolerate insubordinations in my own ranks. Even if it is you, Tatsumi. Bellany is talented and loyal to me. As my subordinate, I will give her a certain level of protection. That doesn't mean she might not need to be disciplined now and then."

"And you are telling me to do that? I'm afraid I don't have a high enough rank to get away with it."

"Either you find a way to make her say these things in my presence or you make her stop _through other means_."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "So much for the protection of your subordinates."

"If she disappears or suddenly can't perform her duties because of some unfortunate "accident", then I will know where to start researching about it." She said and gave him a hard look. "And if I hear a word about you starting or initiating open conflicts or figths with **any** of my subordinates I will punish you _in a way I see fit_. But if I don't hear about it... Well, we won't speak any more of this." She said with a gesture with two of her fingers. Ending the discussion with a knowing smile on her face.

Tatsumi was once again reminded of how hard and cruel her ideals were. She had no emotional or moral problem with having Bellany face off against him. Even if the situation was unfair in nature. If Bellany would be discovered with planning or trying to hurt him she would probably face a rather horrible fate. If he himself were discovered trying to do the same thing to Bellany, his punishment would be of a very diffrent nature.

These kinds of inherent injustices didn't bother Esdese at all. Everyone had their own handicaps and limitations. Those who couldn't handle themselves were left behind. Anyone who was not able to keep up would be trampled. He was the only one which she offered complete protection to.

They had arrived at the huge doors that lead into her quarters. She opened one of them and walked in. Tatsumi followed in her footsteps by routine.

The rooms had already been lit with soft lights and candles. Esdese noncalantly threw her huge weapon to the side. It landed perfectly in it's designated place on one of the elegant weapon racks that adourned the walls of the entrance hall. Tatsumi placed Incursio in it's own reserved place.

"I'm going to take a shower. " Esdese said as she walked over to the bedroom. Twirling her cap on her index finger. He could see that she was in a good mood. He didn't know if that should bother him or relieve him.

"Alright, I will be in the study a minute. I need to write some things down before I forget them." he answered as he watched her back. She waved a hand dismissively over her shoulder. He couldn't help but notice that she was swaying her hips a bit more than usual. He felt how his body reacted to her. His heartbeats accelerating slightly.

She gave him a glance before she walked into the next room. When she saw him something more basic crept into her expression. Her smile became a little more bestial. As if a trap she had set had managed to catch it's prey. Tatsumi realized, that somehow, she knew that his body wanted her.

If it had just been a physical reaction then that wouldn't have bothered him, Tatsumi reflected as he walked into the study. A big room filled with letters ,papers and bookshelves. The problem was that it wasn't only the physical side of him that wished for love and comfort. He felt so emotionally and mentally drained that the thought of just resting in a caring and loving embrace seemed heavenly. Not that he thought that Esdese were gonna let him rest anytime soon.

He sat down at one of the room's many desks.

Maybe she had managed to change him a bit after all, he thought once again. Or maybe it was just how he had adapted to his new lifestyle. Either way, he needed to be careful. He must not lose sight of his objective.

This was the desk he usually worked on but it was still littered with messages and letters for Esdese. Put there by the maids and postmen when there were no more room on the other desks. A single candle was burning at the edge of it.

He shoved the letters down from the desk and took a new paper from the stack of empty ones found in it's corner. The bigger part of the surface of the desk was covered in a short message. Engraved in the wood in large letters a long time ago. The pretty desk ruined.

**You are mine**

Esdese had left that message for him a long time ago. As soon as she realized that this was the desk that he was using. He smiled at it. Her obsession with possessing him could almost seem childish at times. If you took away the fact that this seemed to have been carved with a blade. She must have ordered the attendants to not replace his desk with a new one, since these kind of damages usually were fixed or replaced rather quickly.

He started to write a couple of letters with diffrent hidden meanings. He was not yet planning to send any of them to anyone. They just needed to be prepared so that he could send them away at a moments notice. Should the need for them arise. He already had many of these prepared but Leone was now in the dungeons and he needed to have new messages concerning that prepared. Should something unforeseen happen.

He had been sitting there for almost fifteen minutes when suddenly all lights in the rooms went out.

Tatsumi immediatly rose. His vision completly gone. Fearing an assassination attempt. Had someone actually managed to get past the imperial guard? Then, out of all important and weak targets in the castle, they had chosen to try their luck against Esdese herself. That seemed stupid by any definition ,Tatsumi thought.

He moved his hand over to the now extinguished candle on his desk. It was frozen.

Ahh,so thats is the game we are playing, he thought. He took two steps away from the table.

He knew this unfair game pretty well. Esdese was coming for him now. And she would be fast. Trying to gain an upperhand from the fact that her eyes adapted faster to the darkness than his. Actually, all of her senses were much stronger and more perceptive than his. So his disadvantage was quite big. But he had learned some strategies.

If he could just get to the door that lead out of her chambers he would win. That was the unspoken rule. He had never managed to get that far before though.

He left everything at the desk and quickly started to move to where he thought the door to the entrance hall was. Trying to keep completly quiet. Listening for the slightest of sounds. When he reached a wall he went down into a crouching position. Keeping his side to the wall so that he could keep his attention on the other sides.

He couldn't see or hear anything. But he knew how to hide his presence. As long as her vision hadn't fully returned, he could probably hide from her pretty well.

He started to move along the wall. Towards the door to the entrance hall. He considered hiding somewhere in the study until he had regained his sight a bit but decided against it. She knew he had started here. And the more of her sight she regained the more inevitable his defeat became.

He felt how one of his hands touched the frame of the door that lead out of the study. This would be the biggest challenge. If there was one place where she would ambush him, it would be here. She knew he had to pass through this doorway. She was most likely hiding in wait somewhere in the other room. Guarding the door. But he had an idea. An age old trick but it was still likely to succeed.

What Tatsumi could not see or detect was that Esdese was right in front of him. Less than thirty centimeters away. Completly naked from the shower. Staring him straight in the eyes.

She was in a crawling position but the only parts of her that touched the floor was her hands and the tips of her feets. She had raised her upper body a bit so that their eyes were on the same level. She watched in amusement as Tatsumi reached into his pocket and brought forth a small coin.

She had actually silently rushed into the study while Tatsumi still hadn't realized what was going on. He had lost this game before he knew that they had started. He would probably think that was unfair, Esdese thought, but to the winner goes the spoils. She slowly licked her lips and moved a few centimeters closer.

She didn't quite know why she hadn't taken him yet. She was more acting on her playful instincts than rational thought. She guessed that she wanted to see his reaction when he finally managed to see her and realized that he had already lost. She watched with interest as he raised his hand up and threw the small coin into the other room.

Tatsumi listened closely to the sound of the coin landing and rolling around in the other room. Trying to detect anything. When he didn't hear anything he started to move through the open door while remaining in a crouching position. Putting his hopes in that his distraction had worked. He moved past the door and put one of his sides against the wall when he had reached the other side. Esdese following just a few decimeters behind him. Enjoying the hunt to the fullest.

He was now in the entrance hall. It was very tempting to try and get to Incursio but he didn't want to escalate this further. Especially since the results would most likely be the same.

He had started to regain a bit of his sight but not much. He could make out the doors and the outlines of the furniture in the room. He couldn't see any movements though. She was probably sitting still in a corner somewhere, he thought. Waiting for the right moment to make her dash. He would wait here for a little longer to get some more vision before moving on. He crouched a bit lower.

Esdese grew a bit restless when he didn't move. She crawled a little bit closer. She could almost feel the adrenaline of the moment as she placed her mouth just some centimeters from his ear. She stayed there for some seconds to see if he would notice her. When he didn't, she blew lightly into his ear.

Tatsumi immediately bolted for the door. His body reacting faster than his thoughts when he realized what was going on. But Esdese had been ready for it and the lead he had on her was less than half a meter.

He managed to get three steps before one of her hands swept away the foot he was gonna land on. He immediately caught himself with his hands and prepared to use his momentum to make a somersault like movement and keep going. But before he managed to shift his body, she pressed him into the floor with her own. Forcing them both to come to a halt after sliding on the floor for a meter or two. Tatsumi had maybe gotten halfway through the room but now he was caught.

"You cheated! I don't even know when we started." He said loudly as he squirmed under her. He was so close to the door. Not yet willing to give up, he tried to get some friction with his feet so that he could push them both forward towards the door.

"What are you talking about Tatsumi?" Esdese said with a delighted voice. She had risen a little bit up from him. She planted her knee on his lower back and pushed it down. Pinning him to the floor. "We have never agreed on any rules."

"It's not a competition without some kind fairness." he yelled, secretly enjoying their banter. He tried to reach something to grab to drag himself away from her but he only scratched the floor. He still couldn't see much.

"Who ever said anything about a competition?" she said with a satisfied voice. Creeping her fingers in under the collar of his shirt "The hunter has caught her prey. All that remains now.."

Tatsumi could feel how her damp hair fell down on his neck as she bent down to his ear and whispered.

".. is the feast."

She began to rip his shirt apart from his neck downwards.

"Hey! I actually like these clothes." he complained halfheartedly. When the back of his shirt was completly torn in two she stared at his muscular back for a while. Running a single finger down it while she kept him down with her knee.

He could hear how heavy her breathing had gotten. And he knew it was not because this had been physically taxing on her.

After some seconds she couldn't resist anymore and pressed herself down against him. Putting her hands on top of his arms to hold him down. She started to lick his upper back,neck and shoulders in long, eager stokes. Biting him every now and then.

She had always been like this. She had been just as inexperienced as he was at these kind of things when she had first come on to him. However she had been the one to take the lead. Trusting in her instincts. And so it had gone on after that. So their lovemaking usually contained a lot of force, a lot of bites and a lot of licking from her part.

Only now did Tatsumi realize that she was naked. As he felt how her breasts pressed against his back. He could feel how his own body reacted to her.

"Hey. Let's move to the bed." he said silently. She bit down a bit harder on his shoulder and remained like that. "We don't even lock the doors because of our trust in the imperial guards. Anyone might come in through the front doors right now."

"Unless they are really good at sneaking, I would be able to tell if someone was coming, Tatsumi. Besides, I'm not ashamed of my body. Neither should you be of yours." she said. Putting her teeth back into him in an almost gentle, nestling motion. Clearly deeming the matter done with.

Tatsumi sighed and played the card he knew would work."There are some things I want to reserv only for you."

That made Esdese halt in her nibbling of his shoulder. She remained still for a moment. Then her hands left his arms and and planted themselves on the floor. She started to lift herself up from him.

_Now!_ ,Tatsumi thought. He rolled around as quickly as he could and pushed away from her using the only thing in the room that he could reach; her. He pushed against her with both his hands, as hard as he could. Pushing her a little bit back and sending himself gliding away on the floor.

Esdese was taken aback a bit. Having believed that their little hunting game was over. She launched after him but he rolled around and threw his now ruined shirt in her face. Obscuring her vision.

He then threw himself towards the doors. He didn't quite believe it when his hand actually landed on the handle. He had won this time. Finally.

He started to turn around, triumphantly." I beat you this time, Esde-"

A huge piece of ice passed his head barely a centimeter from his left ear. Smashing into the doors behind him. Piercing the point where both the doors met. Making them impossible to open.

"Wow, that was a bit extreme." he said and looked at the damage."I know you don't-" He halted himself when he saw her eyes. _Uh-oh_, he thought. He could still barely see her in the darkness but her eyes almost seemed to shine.

She didn't exactly look angry. She looked almost shocked in some strange way.

When Esdese had swatted his destroyed shirt out of the way and seen Tatsumi reaching for the door handle something had snapped inside of her. Something instinctual had reacted extremly aggressively to feeling him shove her away and now she was seeing how he was about to leave her again.

After she had finally had him in her arms for the first time in a long while, he was now disappearing from her again? Just like yesterday. Was he never going to be more intimate with her again?

Something deep inside her snapped at that irrational train of thought and suddenly her need to possess him spiraled out of control.

From every little strand of brown hair to the last drop of his blood. She needed to possess it all. All of him belonged to her! He was not gonna escape again!

Tatsumi wondered what was going on for a moment. She usually just laughed or praised him when he managed to beat her at something. Then he suddenly remembered how pent-up she probably still was.

"You know that I was not gonna leave for real. Right?" he said with uncertainty. Taking a step towards her and reaching out with appeasing hands.

She took a careful step towards him. She moved as if she was hunting him again. Walking a bit crouched, ready to dash out at him if he started to move away from her. Moving slowly as if he was an animal she might scare away with any sudden movements.

"Esdese?" Tatsumi asked. Starting to feel really concerned. "Come on, you're worrrying me. Are you angry with me?"

She silently stared him straight in the eyes, unsmiling, as she took another slow, careful step forward. Her arms spread out on her sides. Ready to catch him. He could still barely see her contours in the darkness but what he could make out was certainly worrying.

_My competetive side seems to have gotten the better of me_, Tatsumi thought._ Let's try some damage control._

Still keeping his arms out in front of him he slowly started to walk towards her. "Easy there, girl. Calm down."

He would chuckle if he wasn't so tense. He sounded like he was talking to a wild beast and she was acting as if he was a rare animal she was trying to catch. A good metaphor for their entire relationship, he thought.

She froze when he started to walk towards her. Staring at him as she lowered herself a little bit more.

When his foot touched the floor on his third step, she pounced at him. He could almost see her now but he didn't try to resist. She tackled him and forced his face into her chest. His own feet were dragged a bit along the floor as she stopped her momentum. She remained standing though. Slightly hunched over Tatsumi's limp form.

She stood there for a moment before she dashed off with Tatsumi still in her embrace. Moving through the rooms in leaps. Tatsumi could not determine their destination since his entire face was still being pressed against her breasts. He did however, hear how she opened a few doors by smashing into them with her shoulders.

Suddenly she threw him a bit up into the air. Tatsumi braced for a hard impact but landed comfortably on his back in their bed. He didn't even have time to react before she landed on top of him. Straddling his stomach.

He lifted his arms to protect his face. Not that he thought she was going to hit him. He did it just by instinct since he still couldn't see very well.

She grabbed his arms around the wrists and pulled them away from his face.

His vision was definitely clearer now but he still couldn't see much since she was looming over him right now. He could however feel her breath against his face. He guessed she was looking him in the eyes from just a few centimeters above him. He could feel how her breasts were grazing his own chest.

"Have you forgotten who your owner is, Tatsumi?". It was not a gentle voice. It was authorative but way more rough and husky than her usual commanding tone.

Tatsumi decided that this might be a chance for him to let a bit of her urge to dominate him get an outlet without things getting too painful.

"Have I?" He pushed his forehead up against hers and started to push her head back. At the same time he started to struggle against the hands that were holding his arms. Pushing upwards with all the strength he got.

He managed to push her back a little bit before she responded. She immediately pushed back his head with a snarl. Pressing his head down into the pillows with her own and keeping it there. Then she slowly started to press back with the hands that were holding his arms. Slowly forcing them up over his head.

"Have you?" she hissed lowly. Her breath blowing against his face. She didn't seem strained in any way. Tatsumi was not suprised. When it came to the ability to cause damage he was a little bit closer to her level but when it came to pure strength of the body, he had never been able to even compare to her. He already knew this. This was about reminding her of it.

He started to struggle against her arms with everything he had. Esdese's grip seemed unbreakable though. Holding his arms still while a smile spread across her face as he grunted and snorted. Showing her teeth to him. Then she calmly continued to lift his arms over his head, deliberately slow. Demonstrating who was stronger while keeping her gaze at his face.

When she had pulled his hands to the wall above his head he was already very sweaty. "You seem very warm, Tatsumi." Esdese said in a sweet voice. "Do you want me to cool you down a bit?" Tatsumi's hands and wrists suddenly grew very cold as Esdese locked them to the wall in a block of ice. Summoned from nothing.

Tatsumi winced and wheezed at the sudden ice cold sensation. Esdeath drank in his reaction with an ecstatic expression. She grabbed his hair with one of her hands and pulled it back before bending down and licking him across the right side of the face, from below his chin to above his eyebrow.

"So even after I catch you, you still try to oppose me,huh?" Esdese said in a excited voice. Referring to how he managed to beat her in their hunting game.

"Oh, you have no idea." Tatsumi answered with a defiant smile. Referring to something completly diffrent.

"But now I have you. I won't be denied what is mine any longer." Esdese said. Smiling a not very gentle smile at him.

He opened his mouth to retort but all that came out was a gasp as she pressed her knee into his crotch lightly. Watching his face with amusement as his expression got a bit more strained. She could feel that he was already more than ready for her. She jumped back a little bit, so that she sat on his knees. She didn't even bother with unbuttoning his pants. She broke all the clasps on them as she simply tore his pants off him. She then tore off his underwear as well.

She smiled a compassionate smile at his now exposed and erect manhood. "At least some parts of you seem to be fully aware of where they should be."

The first time they had both been naked had been much harder for Tatsumi than it had been for Esdese. Partly because of a shyness he had and she didn't but also because of the embarrassment that Esdese seemed to know more about his body than he did. She had a lot more experience with dealing with male and female bodies than he ever had. Though not in a sense of intimacy and love. She had still been inexperienced in that regard.

She had however learned a lot of things about the human body during torture sessions. The fact that she knew more about how his private parts worked ,and how they reacted to things, than he did had been a blow to his self-perceived manliness. Even if she could also tell him exactly how all his parts looked if you opened them up in diffrent horrible ways.

He had rather quickly after that come to shed all that kind of childish pride. Realizing that not only did it hamper him but it was completly impossible to uphold it when Esdese was your partner.

Esdese climbed up and snuggled a bit against his face. Whispering in his ear in a gentle voice. "I'm gonna have you now, Tatsumi." It almost sounded like a warning.

She grabbed his manhood and put him in position. Then she sat down on him in a slow determined motion. Until he was completely swallowed up inside of her.

A simple "Gaah!" escaped Tatsumi's mouth as he was enveloped in the warm squeezing wetness of her womanhood. He knew that he was not gonna last long.

She slowly started to move on top of him. Increasing her pace bit by bit. One of her hands cupped his face. "Tatsumi." she said in a low rough voice."This is where you belong."

He was already reaching the limits of his endurance in this.

He hadn't even been close to a woman in the last three weeks, much less been intimate with one. And now he was enveloped in Esdese in all her carnal beauty. Her smell and warmth being ingrained into him again. Her caresses, kisses and squeezes were destroying all the resistance and control he could put up against his natural urges. In regards to his endurance in this specific field, he had been away from her for too long.

He clenched his teeth and hissed her name. He couldn't contain a moan from escaping his mouth as he spent himself inside her. Esdese noticed that he had reached his peak and slowed her movements down a bit. Rhytmically squeezing him in slow strokes. When his moment came to an end she bent down and kissed him on the forehead.

"I hope you don't think that you are done?" she whispered to him.

She started to move again, this time in more grinding motions. Esdese now only seeking pleasure for herself.

Tatsumi drew a sharp breath. He was much more sensitive now and had a hard time suppressing his moans and whimpers. Every single little sound he made seemed to urge Esdese on. Fueling her excitment. She put her fingers into the sides of his chest and digged the her nails into him.

She was close now. Her movements had become so forceful and intensive that Tatsumi felt like a ragdoll as he was pushed around under her. She just needed a little more to get over the edge. She moved one of her hands so that it's palm was pressed against the area under his armpit.

Tatsumi realized what she was gonna do. He lifted his head up. "Esdese, wait a mome-"

She cut him off mid-sentence by putting her other hand over his face and pushing his head back into the pillows. Keeping it down while she went on with her buisness, still moving back and forth on top of him. She drew from her teigu's power and started to freeze the blood under the palm of her hand. Making his blood vessels expand unaturally fast. Not enough to make his muscles tear but enough to make him feel like like they were. It required precision but as long at she only did it with the palm of her hand it was an easy task.

This was far from the worst pain she had given to him. She had been far more generous in this area with him earlier but it was still not something to laugh about. Tatsumi closed his eyes and grit his teeth. He managed to at least muffle down his reaction a bit. It was still enough for Esdese though.

She let go of his side and placed her hand on his chest and pressed down as the pinnacle of her pleasure smashed into her. Her shoulders shivered in bliss as she let out a long, deep and throaty moan. As soon as the highest peak of it descended, she lay down on top of Tatsumi and put her mouth over his. She passionately forced her tongue into his mouth. Pressing his head down into the pillows again.

She grinded slowly and strongly against him for a little while longer. Slowing down until she finally came to a halt on top of him. She lifted her upper body up from him. Tatsumi breathed as if he had run a mile.

She rose up on her knees, disjoining herself from him. She remained standing with her arms at her sides for a few seconds. Staring at the ceiling while abosorbing the glory of the moment and the aftermath of the pleasure. Then she let herself fall down beside him with a light thump. The ice block holding Tatsumi's hands broke into splinters, as she did.

"Have you calmed down a bit?" he asked after a couple of seconds. His panting starting to slow down.

"Yeah" she answered with a dreamy sigh."At least a little bit."

"You actually got me a bit scared back there." he said. She giggled a little bit. Completly out of character with her usual demeanor.

"Then don't stay away from me for so long."

"No, seriously. I almost thought you were going to dismember and eat me." he said with a smile. "I have never seen you look so hungry before."

"Well, in a sense I was." she said. She reached out and grabbed him. Pulling him into her embrace. Placing her chin on the top of his head. "You know that I would never want to damage you in any serious way, Tatsumi."'

"Says the one who broke my arm a year ago." he said as he put an arm around her.

"You know that I didn't mean to do that. It was a simple training accident." Esdese said. Sounding a little sad. "And I didn't break it. I fractured it lightly. Bones put under heavy presssure will grow stronger over time."

"Well, I have grown stronger, at least." He yawned into her bosom. Feeling more sleepy by the second. It seemed like all the trials of the day were catching up with him. "All the teasing aside, I can honestly say that I have been looking forward to resting here again."

"Then rest." she said. Starting to slowly stroke his head with a hand.

He snuggled in a bit closer to her and then finally came to a rest. Feeling at peace. For the moment.

"Tatsumi."

"Mhh?" he answered. Already half asleep.

"You belong to me." she whsipered in his ear, holding him a little tighter.

"I love you too, Esdese."

"Aaahaa." She let out another long euphoric sigh. This was how things were supposed to be, she thought.

She would let him sleep for an hour or two before she woke him for another go. The sharpest edge of her need had been dulled but she was far from satisfied. She didn't want to use any drugs or teqhniques to make him more lively this time. Not tongiht. Tonight she just wanted to enjoy him as he was. So she would let him rest for a little while. She could feel how his heartbeats had slowed and how his breathing had gotten much steadier.

She put her head down to rest agains his. Slowly dozing off into a light sleep. Still relativly aware of her surroundings.

At about the same time, in the far western corner of the empire, imperial agents started sending out birds carrying letters and warnings of betrayal. Setting in motion a plan eighteen months in the making.

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**Author's note: **

**And "The night before the storm" is done! **

**It is the first entry to this story that only follows one character through the whole thing.**

**I think most things that this fanfic will be doing has been showed off now. We have had a bit of drama, a bit of violence, the moral difficulties of our main character is somewhat explained and we have had the first lemon of the story. Everything is set up. In the next chapter the main story line will begin.**

**The next chapter will be back to normal size. It will however take a little longer than than usual for me since I have quite a lot of things to do. Expect it to be released in about 10 days. **

**The revelation this chapter gave me is that a visual medium such as a manga can have a much easier time in changing it's mood without coming of as too schizofrenic. AGK utilizes this pretty well since it can still have more lighthearted moments mashed into what is otherwise, a rather grim story. It can be harder to do without visualisation. This chapter continued from one of the sadder moments we have had so far and then transitioned into lemon. That kind of transistion can be hard to get smooth but I tried to make it work out.**

**As always, thanks A LOT for reading this story. I am so proud of every follower/favorite and every review/comment this story has gotten. If you like what this ride has been so far then stay around. Things are just about to take off.**

**Have a great day and take care of each other.**


	6. Setting fire to sleeping giants

**This one went faster than expected.**

**A friendly reminder that this is rated M for a reason.**

**Edit(10/07): I am currently in the process of changing the name to Esdese in all the chapters of this story. I haven't gotten through all of them yet so there is a small discontinuity between chapters regarding her name. It will be fixed soon.**

* * *

**Setting fire to sleeping giants.**

In the early morning, a young man was standing outside of Esdese's chambers. Knocking on the big doors as the sun was rising. He carried the uniform of a messenger of the imperial court. He had been standing there for almost ten minutes now and was starting to grow restless.

He had tried to open the doors but they seemed to be jammed from the other side. He couldn't even get the handle down. He was now banging on the doors, almost as hard as he could. His friends would probably say that he was crazy to try and draw Esdeath out when she obviously didn't want to open. But he knew that fortune favours the bold. Besides, he did actually have a important message to deliver.

After a while he heard steps inside the chambers. He took a step back, dusted of his clothes and stood at attention. The steps stopped on the other side of the door. He expected to hear the sound of a lock being switched but it didn't come. After a couple of seconds he jumped up in the air as one of the doors were torn from it's hinges and pulled into the apartment.

Esdeath threw the door back into the room, not having the patience to try and fix the lock she had ruined yesterday. It crashed down on the floor with a loud bang. Making the young man flinch at the noise. She then turned to the soldier with a rather hard gaze. Waiting for him to explain himself.

The man had seen Esdeath before but always from afar. Now that he saw her up close he was not disappointed. She was worth all the trouble he had gone through to be assigned this task. She wasn't wearing her hat nor the gloves that reached up her arms. Neither was she wearing her calf high boots. She was basically standing barefooted in nothing but her uniform.

_This one is gonna be worth all the effort_, he thought, before straightening up once again.

"General Esdeath. I'am Isamu. I carry a message from the emperor himself." he said and saluted her.

She looked at him for a second and then turned around and walked back into the apartment. He walked in after her. Assuming that her lack of response was meant as an invitation. He took a couple of steps into the the big room and then stopped there. Watching Esdeath as she walked up to a bowl of fruits that was standing at one of the ornate tables in the room.

"Well?" she said in her authoritative voice, with her back turned to him as she picked up a fruit.

"The emperor has summoned an emergency meeting. All generals currently stationed in the capital are called to attend it. I have the official decree right here." He walked up to her and gave her a sealed letter. "Here you go, my beautiful lady."

Esdeath gave him an empty look before taking the letter and opening it. She started to read through all the seals and signatures affixed to the simple message while she took a bite from the fruit. After a little while she turned her gaze up to the military courier again. "Was there anything else?" she asked. Wondering why he was still there.

"General Esdeath, would you please listen to my request?"

She raised an eyebrow at him. Letting him speak his mind.

_Let's do this_, the young man thought. "Esdeath, I want you to start going out with me!"

_Stepping a bit out of line,are we?_,Esdeath thought. More amused than annoyed. "You are aware that I already have a partner?"

"I'am sure that he is great guy, my beautiful general, but I'am sure that I can make you happier than he can."

"You are a confident one, aren't you?"

"I have been a part of the imperial military for less than a year and I'am already carrying messages for the emperor." he said with confidence. "There are few who have risen as quick as I have among the military couriers."

Esdeath sized him up with her gaze. He was tall and very well trained. His face had some rather elegant features. He had a thick mop of blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Esdeath had a feeling that many girls had been swooned by those eyes. He smiled a confident smile at her. Showing off his white teeth.

"You are dismissed, soldier." Esdeath said and started to turn around.

"Wait, general Esdeath. Please just give me a chance. I promise that I will impress you!"

Esdeath would have had a lot of patience with him if he had just been performing his duty. But now he was venturing far outside of his duty and he was taking away from the time she could spend in bed with Tatsumi.

She turned to him. "Okay then," she put a hand on her hips. "..impress me."

Esdeath was not one to give people a second warning. If he was taking from her time after she had shown that she was unintrested then she would gladly emasculate him.

He was obviously taken aback a bit by that. "What? Right now?"

Esdeath just looked at him and took another bite from the fruit. Her sharp teeth tearing away the flesh from it.

The young Isamu was a bit unsure of how he should handle this. Usually he would just have gone in for a kiss or a suggestive embrace. Trying to sweep her of her feet by mere natural charm. However, he knew that this was not a woman you should get physical with, just like that.

The few seconds he spent considering his options was enough to make Esdeath run out of interest. For her, it was hard to find joy in breaking the confidence of people who displayed none. "Get out of my sight."she said in a disintrested voice. She turned around and started walking back to the bedroom.

Isamu decided that this battle was lost but he refused to give up on the war.

"As you command, but keep your eyes open for me, Esdeath. I will make sure that our paths cross each other again. And I promise that, next time, I will make you fall for me."

Esdeath looked at him over her shoulder.

She felt something stir in her deeper parts when she heard the gusto in his statement and saw the self-confidence he was so proudly displaying in front of her. That unwillingness to give up and how he refused to be denied awoke an urge in her.

She wanted to break him.

To bend that strong, youthful spirit until it snapped. She wanted to castrate and domesticate him. To break the beautiful wild creature until nothing remained but a limping shivering shell of a man. To destroy all his pride and dignity until she grew bored and discarded what remained of him. For the world to see how pathetic she had made him.

His promise about charming her had, unbeknownst to him, had the effect of making Esdeath feel challenged. And that made her urge to destroy and dominate him rise.

She quickly supressed and quelled these urges though. He was a servant of the empire and an ally to her. She would not make him suffer because of comments that could be interpreted as compliments. She was his superior and she had a duty to be fair to him as long as he did as he was bid. She had her standards.

"Okay, then." she said. Giving the man the first smile he had received since she had torn the doors open. "If you manage to catch my attention again, I will give you a new chance to show me your true value. If you impress me enough, I will offer you a chance to give yourself to me."

She gave him another glance over her shoulder before she started walking again. With the proper training she could probably turn him into a rather entertaining pet. For a little while at least. Usually her rather loyal nature towards her underlings wouldn't allow her to use their lives for entertainment purposes.

But he wasn't her subordinate though. Not one of hers. So should he actually choose to pledge his life to her, then...

She smiled as she walked back towards the bedroom.

The young man felt joy fill his body when he heard her words. Unaware of her motives. He bowed deep and gracefully towards her back. "Until next time then, beautiful ice queen."

He then turned around and started to walk out, feeling a bit more encouraged to continue his pursuit of her. The harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph, he thought as he walked past the attendants that had already gathered and started to replace the broken doors with new ones.

Esdeath walked back into the bedroom and closed the door behind her with her foot. She walked up and sat down on the bed with her back against the wall. Remaining in a sitting position with her legs up on the bed while she read through the last bit of the letter. Still holding the fruit.

She remained so for a little while and then put the letter down on her side. She reached down with her arm into the pile of sheets that was laying beside her and scooped up Tatsumi. One arm around his chest.

"Hey!" he halfheartedly yelled in a complaining tone.

She placed him between her legs so that his back rested against her stomach. His head falling back on her breasts.

"I could have been sleeping, you know?" he said.

"And you think I wouldn't be able to tell the diffrence?" she answered absentmindedly. She placed the fruit in front of his mouth, feeding him a bite while she picked up the letter again.

"So, how was this new admirer you have attracted?" He said as he chewed. Having heard the entire conversation. "Did he manage to get your interest?"

"Well, he was rather good looking and a bit of a hunk. He did seem to be used to get what he wanted." She raised the fruit to her mouth as she read through the letter again. "It could probably be fun to play around with him for a while." Her teeth tore into the fruit again.

Tatsumi made a mental note to go and meet this man and warn him of the path he was about to embark on. He was well aware of what Esdeath meant with that last sentence and there were very few people in the world that Tatsumi wished that fate upon. "Oh, so my partner's heart has been swayed by another man. Woe is me." he exclaimed.

"It's hard for him to sway what you have already stolen." she said casually as she put the letter on a nightstand by the bed.

"So he only managed to get your favor through pure carnal attraction. As a man, that's almost worse for me." he said. Feigning despair.

That actually made her laugh a little. "You already know that you are the only one that I react to in that way." she said. Her free hand slowly creeping down his well defined stomach in a very suggestive way.

"You're insatiable." Tatsumi said. Thinking about how little sleep he had actually gotten this night.

"Pretty much, yeah." she admitted. Taking another bite from the fruit. She was way to dominantly minded to be ashamed of any of her appetites. "But I'm afraid I don't have time to indulge anymore right now. I must leave pretty soon. I have been summoned by the emperor himself."

_Of course you have been_, Tatsumi thought. His excitment rising. He started to move out of her lap when he noticed something he had not been able to see during the night.

"Hey, have you gotten us some new bedclothes while I was gone?"

* * *

"Have you ever thought about all the little inconveniences that it seems people in power are demanded to put their followers through?"

Makeias mused to himself as he walked up the long stairs that led to the emperor's audience chamber."I mean, it seems pretty obvious that no one is going to have more people requesting an audience with him than the emperor himself."

He had two guards with him. People so long and slender that they almost did not look like humans. Part of a now long gone tribe.

Though I might as well have been talking with the wind, Makeias thought. Since these guards rarely spoke, unless forced to. "So why then, do you put his court room on one of the highest floors in the castle? Instead of placing it in a more central location. To demonstate superiority? That just seems insecure."

He scratched his mid section. His wound itched terribly today. He had never been a superstitious man but somehow his teigu always seemed irritate his body more when something unfavorable was about to happen to him. "What I'm trying to say is that I hate stairs."

They reached the end of the stairs and found themselves in the waiting room outside of the emperor's main audience chamber. Makeias could already hear the commotion on the other side of the big, closed doors leading into the room. His attention was however grabbed by a huge man standing in front of those doors. Surrounded by men from the imperial guard that the man in question was so proud of.

"Ahh, great general. I didn't get a chance to talk to you after the assembly, the other day." he exclaimed and walked up to the man and the ten guards that stood behind him. Makeias could tell he was not popular here from how silent they had gotten. As he got closer, they tensed up in a far more agressive way than what his rank usually caused people to do.

"General Makeias" Budo answered with hard look. Arms crossed over his chest.

"Your guards seems to be nervous. Or maybe they just don't like my clothes." Makeias said with a ridiculing smile.

"They just regard people that can't follow rules and orders as a liability." the great general answered in a hard tone. Still staring the other general in the eyes.

"Ohh, I wonder where they could have gotten that notion from."

"Don't play coy with me,general. I have been very clear about what I think about your last campaign.". Budo had always had a harsh demeanor but Makeias couldn't help but notice that his tone was a bit more unfriendly than usual.

"I accomplished my original mission, didn't I?" he said with a shrug.

"You were ordered to defend and take control of strategic positions along the border. Yet, you marched into another nation with an imperial army. Changing the empire from a defensive standpoint to an invading one in what has to be the biggest act of insubordination I have ever seen. Taking it upon yourself to decide what the empire's entire stance upon the situation was."

"Me taking things into my own hands brought one of the empire's more hostile neighbours to it's knees." Makeias defended. Still smiling.

"Which the emperor has rewarded you for. But he was too kind when he ignored all the protocols you breached to reach that goal. You should not have been allowed to keep your rank." the big man concluded.

"The rank you bestowed upon me. Have you forgotten?"

"I gave you that honor because you deserved it. Just as you deserved the rewards you recieved for humbling the foreign forces that challenged the empire. That does not wash away all the other acts you have done. Your good acts have been rewarded. Your bad ones should have been punished."

No love for the pillager here either, Makeias thought. Seems like there are few people in the capital that are happy that I returned. But that is probably pretty smart of them, all things considered.

"Well, sadly it is no longer your choice alone to make."

The great general simply closed his eyes. His expression as unmovingly stern as usual.

"Nowadays, you need the emperors mandate if you want to demote me. Its seems to me that the whole hierarchy of the military has become a bit more... _political_, since the last time I was here." he said with a knowing smile.

The great general opened his eyes but he directed them towards the stairs behind Makeias. Makeias could already tell that the last general in the capital had arrived. He turned to the stairs and watched how Esdeath climbed the last steps of them. Tatsumi walking a step behind her.

"Ahh, the ice queen has arrived to warm up the mood." Makeias exclaimed. Mockingly bowing lightly to her when she got close.

Esdeath smiled. "Ohh, are you a little bit grumpy today,pillager?" she said and patted his bowing head."Has the little boy not gotten enough sleep?". She sounded like she was talking to a dog. Turning his mockery upon him.

She seemed to be the only one in the city who had actually been enjoying his presence since he arrived, Makeias reflected, but he held no illusion that her playfulness meant the same thing as affection. He had seen how that same playful nature manifested itself when she fought and killed. Still, he prefered this over the chiding that so many other in the capital gave him.

Budo put his arms down from his chest. "All three of us have arrived. Behind me." The great general turned to the doors with a gesture for them to follow him.

Makeias straightened up. He looked at Tatsumi and gave him a smile. The younger boy nodded to him. A gesture that Esdeath did not miss.

She did not like it. Had they established some kind of relationship she did not know of?

While she often liked to play along with Makeias jests and jokes she made no mistake about the man's true nature. She knew that he was a schemer. Probably a pretty good one at that, if his military rank was any indication. She did not want him to involve her Tatsumi in whatever plans he was currently hatching. Hopefully she would get a chance to subdue Makeias enough to make him tell her about it in their sparring match later today. Otherwise she could maybe coax it out of Tatsumi in bed.

Budo pushed open the huge doors and walked into the audience chamber. The generals followed on his right and left side, only a few steps behind him. They walked up on the long red carpet that led to the end of the room where the emporer sat on his throne. Tatsumi and the other general's retinues walked off to the side and into the crowd of people that had gathered. Tatsumi himself went to the back of the room. Resting his back against the wall.

The room was filled with people but most of them grew silent when the great general entered. The front row was occupied by politicians and higher-ups within the military who had been taking turns to express their opinions and their advise to the young emperor. The emperor himself had remained silent through most of the meeting. Sitting high above on his throne with the prime minister standing at his side. He rose from his seat when the great general got closer.

The great general kneeled with dignity. The other two generals followed his example behind him. Esdeath gracefully and Makeias graceless.

"Emperor Makoto, the highest ranked military in the capital have gathered at your command. The imperial army is ready to do your bidding." Budo voice boomed through the hall.

The little emperor walked a couple of steps forward and then started what seemed lika a already rehearsed speech.

"Thank you for coming generals. The empire is in your debt, as always. " The little boy took a deep breath. "Each one of you have accomplishments that are known throughout the entire empire. You are the greatest fear of the empire's enemies and the biggest protectors of the empire's intrests. Sadly though, it seems that some of our enemies have been hiding in our own ranks. Generals, the warden of our western territories has betrayed us."

If any of the generals were suprised to hear this, they did not show it.

The empire was a huge nation so it was hard to control through a fully centralised government. Therefore, the imperial court had placed out four wardens across the empire. Their role was too see to it that the will of the empire was uphold and followed on a political level in their region. It was a powerful position politically. Even if they didn't have any authority in the military.

Tatsumi was standing in the back. Listening carefully, even if he already knew where this was going.

"This man has forsaken the trust and duty placed upon him by the empire. Our agents and spies have been able to reveal that he has, since a long time back, not only been working with the revolutionary army but also been trying to set up relationships with foreign countries against the empire's will." the little emperor went on.

It was a shame that the warden of the west had to go, Tatsumi reflected. He had been aiding the revolutionary army greatly. He sectretly opposed the slavery that was so abundant in the empire and he had tried to halt the escalating conflict between the empire and the western nations. It was a testimony to his intelligence that he had managed to stay undiscovered for so long. They revolutionary army had no ally who carried so much power within the empire.

But he was a necessary sacrifice. The first betrayal the empire would discover needed to be a a big one. And it needed to be real. If it was revealed that the first one in a long line of betrayals was faked and just a case of someone being framed, then all the ones that came after that would be doubted as well.

"Since the man was the warden of an entire region of the empire, I want each one of you to thoroughly look through all forces you have or have had stationed in his region. The traitor might have contacts hidden in your ranks." the little emperor ordered.

Tatsumi looked up at the prime minister who was standing a bit behind the emperor. The biggest betrayal in a long while needed to be destroyed thoroughly, he thought, but there is only one person you can trust with that mission. Budo might come to find out more things he can use to denounce you if he start searching through the information a traitor might have gathered about you, Tatsumi thought. And from what I could tell from the meeting with him yesterday, you don't got Makeias pinpointed. So you will have to use one of your older allies to root out this problem.

Tatsumi smiled.

"General Esdeath," emperor Makoto called out."You are widely regarded as our strongest warrior. You will go and demonstrate what it means to betray the empire."

Esdeath smiled. "It will be my pleasure, emperor Makoto."

Tatsumi wanted to kiss her for being the sadistic, terrifying monster that she was. She would make everything work. She would destroy the warden of the west without caring about the consequences. She wouldn't question the things she would find on his property. She would be glad to find what Tatsumi had hidden there.

"Budo and Makeias, when Esdeath has cut of the head from this snake, I want you to confiscate all the wardens resources and absorb what you can from his personal forces into your own. What can be saved and what can not will be up to your individual judgement."

"It will be done." Budo exclaimed. Makeias simply nodded.

"Now go and see my will be done." the young emperor shouted. Dismissing them with a wave of his arm.

The great general stood up and started to walk out. The other generals followed after him. Tatsumi left his position and started to head out to meet Esdeath outside. Behind him the meeting with the politicians continued. Arguing about who would get what part of the soon to be dead warden's properties and land. Like vultures circling a dying man.

When he came out to the waiting room outside, Makeias and Budo were already discussing who would take care of what part of the warden's forces. Esdeath was just sending away a courier with a message. The generals usual bickering immediately dicarded so that they could perform their duty.

He walked directly up to Esdeath. When she turned around he reached up and kissed her. Pressing his lips into hers with force, before she could react. Suprising her a little, since she usually had to be the one to take the initiativ.

Even if he for the moment had modulated himself into the role of her lover he couldn't help but feel a genuine affection towards her right now. Ever since Mine's death he had defined his entire existence around the destruction of the empire. And now she was going to help him do it. For a little while, she was gonna become that purpose. Even if she didn't know it. For the moment she was going to become his anger, his wrath, his _vengance_. And he loved her for it. At least in this moment.

Esdeath's suprise lasted less than a second before she answered in kind. Unwilling to be outdone or on the recieving end even in this area. If he was demonstrating his love for her then she would show how much greater her love for him was.

She immediately wrapped her arms around him and lifted him until he stood on his toes. Making out with him with such enthusiasm that he felt like she was eating his face. Breathing heavily with a focused look in her eyes. She pulled back from from his face and smiled a ravenous smile at him. "To think that you already have regained some hunger after tonight. You really are the one for me."

She leaned in a bit his lower lip. Pulling it out while watching how a pained expression formed on Tatsumi face. Her own expression growing more amused.

Tatsumi was already regretting that he had let his feelings go for a moment. Esdeath had never felt any shame about these kind of things. Always proud to show the world her desires and wishes. Daring anyone to oppose her.

But now he was starting to worry about how far she was intending to go. Considering where they were. He did not try to stop her though. The fire that had briefly been ignited for her in him still burned in embers and every part of him that could be defined as male was screaming for more. He actually felt a slight irritation when her attention was forced away from him.

"Do you ever get that feeling of déjà vu?" Makeias asked, suddenly standing a mere two meters away from them. Tatsumi had not even noticed that he had walked up to them. He had been too engrossed with the thought of having Esdeath fight for his cause. He hadn't even noticed that the great general had already left.

Esdeath looked at Makeias with unconcealed anger. Twice had he stopped her intimate moments with Tatsumi now. Makeias noted that he actually got a slightly irritated glance from Tatsumi as well, this time.

_Well, nothing like an common enemy to bring people together_ ,he thought. "Spare me your grievances." he said. His smile got a condescending tone and he turned to Esdeath. "We have work to do. When are you leaving?"'

"Within an hour or so." Esdeath answered. Lightening her hold on Tatsumi a little bit. Letting his heels hit the ground.

"Good. I have talked with Budo and we have come to an agreement about our proceedings. We will start taking over and recruiting all the forces belonging to the warden of the west by nightfall. See to it that he has been unseated by then and make sure that his forces know about it."

He turned around and started to walk to his two guardsmen, who were waiting for him by the stairs. "Oh, by the way," he turned around." I guess this means that we will have to postpone our little sparring match." he said. His sly smile returning.

"We will have it as soon as possible after I have returned." Esdeath answered. It was more a statement than a suggestion.

Makeias nodded and then turned around and walked away.

Esdeath watched him as he left. When they were alone Tatsumi answered to her embrace. Moving his arms around her slender,yet insanely strong back. His hands grabbed hold of her uniform. He put his forehead down where her collarbones met. "Don't you dare die on me now."

It was a completly genuine request. If she somehow died now, everything he had planned would collapse. Now it had started. Now he relied upon her strenght.

But there was also something else inside of him that didn't want her to disappear. Something born from what had awoken in him when it was finally decided that she would inadvertently help him with his goals.

And it scared him.

Esdeath was once again suprised by her lover. Through all of the bickering, arguments and disagreements they had had she had never heard him voice concerns about her survival. She felt a little bit of warmth fill her since his concern was just another form of affection. It did, however, make her wonder why he was worried now, all of a sudden. This was not gonna be a dangerous task for her and he knew it. So why then?

She put that question aside for later,though. Now she was busy with just enjoying the feeling of him clinging desperatly to her. Like she was all he had. It was rare for him to be the clingy one of them.

She stood there for a couple of seconds. Simply enjoying the sensation for awhile before reaching up with an arm and starting to stroke his head.

"Hey." she said softly. "Have you forgotten who you are talking to?" She took hold of his hair and gently bent his face up so that she could look down on his eyes. Giving him a smile that was partly dangerous and partly caring.

Tatsumi's eyes narrowed a little bit. "I will haunt you through whatever hell is waiting for you if you leave me behind in this world now."

Esdeath's smile grew wider. "That only means that if there is an afterlife, I will have you with me there as well."

Tatsumi smiled and shook his head. "Crazy woman."

"Stubborn little boy." she returned. Rubbing her chin against his temple.

She took a deep breath of his hair before letting him go. "Now I have a politician I need to remove from his office. Don't do anything that you will regret while I'm gone, okay?"

She had briefly considered taking him with her on this mission but she had been ordered to make an example of the warden of the west and she intended to make that as entertaining as possible. Tatsumi would not enjoy this mission so she had chosen to let him stay. The bigger part of her was proud that she now had the restraint to make that choice. A year ago she would have dragged him with her either way.

But there was still a small part of her, a part more driven by instincts than reason, that for some reason was telling her that she shouldn't leave Tatsumi alone. That was not something unusual for her to feel though so she quelled it pretty quick. Even if it was a bit more agressive than usual this time.

"Yeah,yeah" he said while scratching the back of his head.

"I will probably be back tomorrow. Leave a message in the bedroom, telling me where you are if you go out. So that I can come and find you when I return."

"Okay"

She brought up a hand and cupped his face for a short moment, looking deeply into his eyes. Then she turned around and left without another word.

He watched her head disappear down the stair and then remained standing there for a minute.

"I won't do anything that I will regret." he said silently and started walking out of the room as well.

* * *

In one of the castle's many training yards, Wave was standing and shouting at a small group of warriors. Training them hard in diffrent forms of close combat.

"I prefer that you are alive and resenting me, than dead because I wasn't harsh enough on you." he shouted to a couple of his trainees that had started to complain. "Now keep it up!"

He was interrupted from lecturing them further by a voice behind him. "Wave of the jaegers. Do you have a minute?"

Oboy, Wave thought as he turned around to the familiar voice.

Bellany was standing in the middle of the entry to the training yard. Together with a couple of other soldiers that Wave did not recognize.

He made no attempt look enthusiastic about meeting her again. "Why are you here, Bellany?"

"I need to talk to you,Wave. It is quite important." Bellany said.

He sighed. "Fine.". He turned to the students."Keep doing your exercises until I return."

He walked to Bellany, who turned around and walked out of the yard. Wave following her and the soldiers following behind him. When they were out of earshot from those in the yard she turned around to him.

"Are those the warriors you have been training to become jaegers? They seem to hold quite a lot of potential" she said with a friendly smile.

Wave noticed how the soldiers she had brought with her closed a circle around them. He smiled. "Thanks, Bellany. Sadly Esdeath doesn't seem to believe that much in them but I will try to give them a chance." He crossed his arms over his chest. Still smiling. "And you should have brought more soldiers if you wanted to intimidate me."

Now it was Bellany's turn to sigh. "Why must you always make our interactions so difficult,Wave? I have always been kind to you."

"You are too intelligent to not be able to figure that out."

"No, I really don't understand. Why do you take that former vigilante's side in all matters?"

"Why don't you give him a chance?"

"Why does he deserve one? You know how many people there are that fall victims to the internal conflict within the empire. What did he do to deserve the chance that everyone else didn't get."

_Well, he caught the attention of the strongest warrior in the empire_, Wave thought. The injustice was not lost on him but that didn't mean that Tatsumi should be punished for having that amazing stroke of luck. That didn't seem right to him at all.

"You trust Esdeath completly in almost everything Bellany. This is well known. So why do you doubt her judgement when it comes to Tatsumi?"

Bellany looked at him with irritation. "This isn't getting us anywhere. Wave, I haven't come here to try and intimidate you. I do have a serious question that I hope that you can answer to truthfully, despite our diffrent opinions."

"Shoot!" Wave said in a rather up-beat tone.

"A bit past dinner yesterday, Tatsumi visited the dungeons. More specifically, his old Night raid comrade. Do you know anything of this?"

"No. Not at all actually." Wave answered. Genuinely suprised.

"You were seen walking with him just a little while after his visit. He didn't tell you anything about it?"

_You seem to have a lot of eyes backing you up, Bellany_, Wave thought. "Nope. We did indeed talk about the prisoner but thats it."

"What were Tatsumi's thoughts on having his old comrade on death roll?" Bellany asked. More intrested than spiteful.

"Why don't you go ask him? If you yourself are so utterly lacking in imagination." He turned to leave. "Now if there was nothing else, I have some students that need my help. Even if they don't know it themselves."

"No, thats all, Wave." She said tiredly. "Go. Make them as good as you can. God knows we need more people like you in the army." Bellany signaled to the soldiers to let him pass.

Despite the rather cold atmosphere, Wave decided to shoot her a kind smile before he walked off.

Bellany watched him go. He was such a good soldier, she thought. Loyal, caring, strong and always thinking about what was best for the empire as a whole. It was such a pity that his judgement failed him on this issue. But even her beloved general seemed to have made a mistake when it came to Tatsumi so she really couldn't blame Wave that much.

When he had disappeared from sight she turned to the soldier nearest her, "I want Tatsumi put under complete surveillance while Esdeath is gone. If he does anything strange I want to know it within an hour."

* * *

Later in the evening, chaos ensued on a large estat in the middle of the empire's western regions. People were bustling around inside the large manor. Trying to get everything ready for the unlpanned event that had ocurred.

Esdeath had payed a suprise visit to the warden of the west's home. Coming alone, flying on top of her dragon.

Everyone was unsure as to why she was there but the warden had chosen to bring out all the hospitality the manor could muster. It was not often you got such an important visitor.

When Esdeath had landed and walked up to the front doors they opened up for her. A butler she thought she had seen before came out to meet her.

"Lady Esdeath, we are most honored by your visit. As always. The warden is waiting for you. Can I help you with any luggage or equipment you do not wish to carry around."

Esdeath smiled a intrigued smile. "No, not at all. I have brought a smaller garrison with me but I choose to fly a bit ahead of them so that I could talk a bit with my old acquaintance. Lead me to him."

"This way, my lady."

He led here to a room with a lot of paintings on the walls and a large open fireplace with two great armchair next to it. The warden of the west was standing in the middle of the room. Waiting for her arrival. He was a man in his late fifties. He was rather overweight and had a muastache and long sideburns. His hair white and grey. He had dressed up to the occasion. Wearing a black tailcoat and a top hat. A golden monocle sitting over his left eye.

He immediately walked up to her when she entered."Ahh Esdeath, you grow more beautiful every time I see you!"

He bowed down and kissed her hand. "While I only grow more ugly with every day. May I offer you some wine? I have saved some of that vintage wine you liked the last time you dined here at my manor."

"Some wine would be delightful" she answered with a smile.

The older man nodded towards the butler who quickly walked out of the room."Have a seat." he said and gestured to the armchairs in front of the fireplace. Sitting down in one of them himself.

She sat down in the other one. Resting her rapier against the side of it.

"So, two visits from the empire's most acclaimed general in six months. To what do I owe this honor?" He said with a smile. He took forth a pipe and started filling it with tobacco. The butler had returned and was filling up two wine glasses and putting them on a small table standing between their chairs.

"Oh, you have made both these visits happen on your own." She answered with a calm smile. Picking up one of the glasses.

"Do explain, my fair lady. Oh, and by the way, I hope that you will be staying for dinner? The chefs are dying for a chance to impress you." he said with another big smile.

"I will be staying here for a while but your chefs will not cook another meal in their lives." She said and took a sip of the wine.

The older man was just about to light his pipe but stopped in the middle of the motion. "What do you mean, my lady?"

She looked over at him with amused eyes. "I have come here to demonstrate what happens to those that betray the empire. Such as yourself."

The warden brought his pipe down. "I don't understand what you mean, general Esdeath?"

"There is no purpose in denying it. The emperor has already issued the order." She said and took another sip of his wine.

The warden was no fool. He knew that if the order was already issued, there was no going back. He put his pipe down beside his wine glass.

"Is that it? Have you just come here to kill me in my own home" he said. All the mirth and joy gone from his voice. Revealing the distressed state he had been in since he had heard about her arrival.

"No, I won't kill you here." Esdeath said with a casual tone. As if she was talking about the weather. "I was tasked with making an example out of you. I will hurt you a bit here but I will bring you back to the capital. There I will show you off to the public after I have... _reduced you a bit_. Then you will die."

The older man had seen examples of what she did when she _reduced_ her opponents. She had once visited his estate right after a bigger battle and had brought the leader of the opposing forces with her. Esdeath had crushed the man until he was little more than dog. Leading him around with a leash, naked and crawling on all fours.

She had apparently been parading him around in front of the people that had believed in him and the soldiers that had put their trust in him. Making him run around, do tricks and lick the ground she had walked on. She grew tired of him after she arrived at the warden's estate though. So she told him to to go and try to fight her pet dragon with a stick, which he happily did. Both getting rid of the unwanted pet and feeding her steed at the same time. She hadn't even stayed to watch it but the warden had. He had nightmares about it weeks after that.

He swallowed hard. His throat dry.

"And you have no qualms about this at all? After all the kindness and hospitality I have shown you? Haven't we known each other ever since you became a general?" He looked her straight in the eyes but the gaze he was met with held no sympathy or compassion.

"You made a huge mistake when you chose to oppose the empire that I represent. I thought you would have been smart enought to understand that." she said. Still wearing a calm smile. Even if it now had a darker tinge to it.

"The only reason I started negotiations with the western countries in sectret was to lessen the hate and racism that is growing on both sides of the war."

"I have been told that you have been harbouring other people's slaves and vigilantes fleeing from the imperial court, as well."

"All I have done is to save the orphans and refugees this conflict within the empire has created." he said. Keeping a proud tone. Even if his face was getting sweaty.

"By giving them to the revolutionary army?" Esdeath's smile got a mocking tone to it. "Knowing that they would go up against me and my kind sooner or later? Not that I mind but didn't you realize how futile that idea was?"

The old man took a steadying breath. Grabbing hold of the arms of his chair in order to conceal how much his hands were shaking. "I may not look like it, but I believe that it is better to die fighting than living your life begging on your knees. Can't you at least relate to that?"

"I can understand that some people choose death instead of life. It seems reasonable if they can't handle the conditions they have to live under. Doesn't mean that I relate to them." She looked over at him again. Smiling a smile that almost seemed joyful. "And believe me, you yourself will be begging in the end either way."

"So you will treat me just like every other enemy you have faced?"

"I can't say that I have high hopes about your endurance. The spirit usually breaks pretty quick when your body is not used to pain." she poured herself some more wine from the bottle the butler had left on the table. "So I don't think I will get much entertainment out of you. But I am intrested in how your squeals will sound since you have such a dignified voice normally." she said nonchalantly.

"What about the staff of my estate?"

"My garrsion should be here any minute. You will be the only one I bring back alive to the capital."

The older man sent a gaze to his butler who was standing in the back of the room. The other man nodded and slowly started to leave. Esdeath noticed it without looking but she didn't care. Her hunters would catch most of those who tried to run away. She smiled at the warden and when he returned his eyes to her she slowly shook her head.

She reached over and took the wine bottle. "But I must say, this wine is really good. I should get a hold of some for myself." she said as she read the labels on the bottle.

"General Esdeath!" the old man gathered all the resolve he had. He rose up and walked over to her. He kneeled in front of her chair. "Please, I beg you." With shaking hands he took of his top hat and bent his head down in front of her. His pretty monocle falling down on the carpet.

"I have almost a hundred peolpe working for me here. Only four or five of them knew anything of this. Please let the other ones go. For the all the food and wine, for all the words and rest I have offered you, please do me this last favour." he said. His voice unsteady as he begged the girl who was young enough to be his daughter.

Esdeath slowly placed one of her boots on top of his sweaty head. Pushing it down slightly as she drank from her wine glass. Considering his request. In the end her sense of loyalty got the upper hand. He had treated her to a lot of good meals.

"Fine. If you bring me the ones who knew of this, then I will only kill a tenth of the people you have working here. The rest may go."

"Will you let me go and tell them?"

She considered it for a moment."Yeah, I will give you a little time. My garrison isn't quite here yet, it would seem. And I am sure you know that you can't escape me."

The older man nodded and rose up. Leaving his monocle and hat lying on the floor. He straightened up and walked out of the room with all the pride he could muster.

Esdeath remained sitting there for a while. Looking at the fire while drinking the last of the wine. The old man seemed to have some spirit left in him, she thought. Maybe this would be enjoyable after all.

She suddenly heard a scream from the floor above her. She got a premonition and rose up. She grabbed her weapon and walked out of the room at a fast pace. After a little while she found stairs leading up to the second floor. She walked for half a minute before she found the source of the scream.

It was a young maid who were sitting down in the entry of a doorway leading into what seemed to be a small study. Covering her gaping mouth with her hands. Tears running down her face.

How boring, Esdeath thought as she looked into the study.

The warden of the empire's western territories was hanging from a beam in the roof with a rope around his neck. His body swaying slightly. A chair laying tipped over at his feet.

I guess he was lucky he was so heavy,she thought. If the fall hadn't snapped his neck, I might have discovered him before his death.

"If this is what you meant when you said that you prefered to die fighting then I am not impressed." she said. She walked forward and cut off the rope holding the body up. Watching it fall down to the floor. "Then again," she smiled and adjusted her cap with her hand,"you did actually manage to escape me."

She shook her head and turned around to the maid who was now sobbing. Her face hidden in her hands.

"I guess we will have to settle for making an example out of a hundred little servants."

* * *

Tatsumi walked into the same old restaurant that he had fallen asleep in the other night. This time he just walked up to the counter and ordered a beer. When he had gotten his bevearages he payed the barmaiden who was serving him. She gave him his receipt along with a bottle filled with some kind of dark liquid. He took them and walked off to a table.

He sat there alone for a while. Slowly working his way through the beer. When he felt that he no longer had any attention on him he gave the receipt a closer look. He looked through the numbers. Finding the values he was searching for.

Okay, he thought. One hour then I will move out. He looked out through one of the windows of the bar. It was almost midnight and the streets in this part of the city were not well lit. This was a good starting point. He would need to move away a bit from this bar before he began with his mission though. In case someone would recognize him.

He had actually been coming to this place a little bit too regulary during the last two months. He needed to find another contact to go through somewhere in the capital. If this continued on it would be easy to trace him to this place. Should he be caught.

He looked down on Incursio. Making sure that it was properly wrapped up in cloth. Disgused as a normal sword. He would need it tonight. His mission tonight would be relatively easy but it was one of the more important steps in the bigger picture. Setting everything up for tonight had also been very troublesome. It had required a lot of people. So it had taken it's sweet time. But now everything was ready. Now he just needed to light the fire. Literally.

When he felt that enough time had passed he grabbed the untouched bottle and left the bar with it. Moving down into the smaller and darker alleyways of the slum. After a little while he stopped in a backyard between two houses. He attached the bottle he was carrying to his belt.

He started to take in his surroundings as well as he could. He couldn't detect anyone else. He took a deep breath. _Here we go._

He jumped up as silently as he could. Doing some small wall jumps between the two building until he reached the roof of one of them. When he was up on the roof he started to move in long quick jumps between rooftoops. Moving towards the nearest military district.

This, along with his starting position, had all been meant to make it harder to follow him or discern his final destination.

He jumped over a couple more rooftops and then stopped when he reached the wall that cut off the military district he was moving towards from the civilian houses. He could see his destination from here.

A huge stone building just some kilometers away. The imperial archives.

The one place where all the history and background of the military was documented. Along with all the information and identification of every soldier in the military and their backgrounds. Every battle report, every order issued, every mission summary and every written rule about military conduct was kept there. Without it, the imperial army would be one step closer to chaos.

It had been considered as a target by the revolutionary army many times but due to how close it was to the palace it had never been attempted. Plus the fact that the building was huge and made entirely out of stone. You would need a couple of really big barrels of fuel and a great deal of time if you wanted to destroy the important papers inside of the building walls. It was almost impossible to accomplish from the outside.

However, if you already had a lot of fuel hidden inside of the building, it was a diffrent story.

If you had flammable fuel hidden away in the covers of countless of books that had been borrowed and then returned. If you had fuel dyed into the pages of hundreds of mission reports. Turned in by many diffrent people over the course of six months. If you had all that and the positions of the hidden fuel mapped out properly, then you would only need a liter of fuel to turn it all aflame in a minute or two. He reached down with a hand to ensure that the bottle was still attached to his side.

Tatsumi smiled. _Let's go start a fire!_ ,he thought.

He grabbed Incursio, transformed and immediately turned invisible. He planted both his feet into the roof and jumped over the wall.

Unaware that he had been watched until the moment he turned invisible. Through a pair of binoculars from very far away.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**A bit of a build-up chapter for the two next ones. For some reason I was able write this faster then I had expected. Don't really know why. My schedule will have cleared up after the week-end so expect the next one in about 7 days.**

**The last chapter was so littered with spelling mistakes that I actually had to go back and correct the worst parts of it. Hopefully this one is better. I would like to avoid having to spend time on correcting old mistakes since it takes time that I could be using to get a new chapter out. So I might have to get someone to spell check or betaread this story if it continues to get more followers.**

**As always, thanks for reading this little story of mine. I sound like a broken record but the fact that people have taken an intrest in it makes it a lot more fun for me to do. Heck, if no one had followed it I would probably have dropped it after the last chapter I released. So thanks once again.**

**Have a good day and take care of each other.**


	7. Plans and flames

**Another deadline that I miraculously made it in time to. **

**A little shorter chapter this time, though.**

* * *

**Plans and flames.**

The wildlife ran away from the smoke and the smell of fire and burnt flesh.

It was well past midnight but the entire area around the huge estate was lit up by the fires that reached up into the dark sky. The estate itself had consisted of several houses and two stables. Only one of the houses was not afire.

Archers were standing outside of the stables that were burning. Taking bets and competing about who and how fast they could manage to take down the burning horses and cows that came running out of the burning building in panic.

About forty people were huddling together in the middle of the property. Surrounded by soldiers. Twenty of them were going to be taken back to the capital. There to be tortured and killed in public. Taking the place of the already dead warden. The other twenty were going to be crucified on the estate. Left there for anyone who passes by to see. They only waited for the soldiers to have their fun first.

Esdeath had given the other sixty servants of the warden to her garrison to do with as they wished. She had always found it important to reward her troops for their work. This was no diffrent. She had determined the fate of forty of the servants. They would get to decide what happened to the rest.

Some of her troops were now in the forests around the estate. Hunting those that had fled. A few of her hunters had been so confident that they had let a couple of people get away on purpose. Just so that they could enjoy hunting them. Esdeath knew that few of them would get away.

Most of the women were in the only building that was not burning. Dragged there screaming by soldiers wishing to use them for sexual relief. In the fields around the burning houses some of the riders of the garrison were chasing around the stableboys and the girls that no one had dragged away to be raped. Chasing them back and forth through the fields on top of their horses. Running over those that fell over or couldn't keep up.

Esdeath walked through the destruction. Disinterested in most of it. One of her boots were dyed red almost up to the knee. She had tried to find som enjoyment in the guards the warden had stationed around the premise but they had died way to fast. Between the warden managing to escape her grasp through death and the absolutely pathetic capabilities of his household guards, this mission was turning out to be a big disappointment. There was nothing left here that could entertain her at all.

She sighed in irritation. She wanted to go home to her Tatsumi.

She walked up to the middle of the property where her soldiers had gathered the people that were going to crucified or transported to the capital. Her own mount was waiting for her beside them. The warden's dead body was tied up on top of it. The body was going to be taken back to the capital and displayed at a public location. Her second-in-command was standing beside her mount, waiting for her orders.

She walked up towards the dragon. "I don't intend to stay here for much longer. Tell the soldiers to finish up." she said to the man in a commanding tone.

"Yes, general!" the man answered and marched of at a brisk pace.

Esdeath cast a glance over to the forty people that were sitting on their knees. Waiting for their inevitable death. Most of them were hunched over. Some sobs could be heard in the crowd. A couple of them dared to cast a glance towards her but they were few and far between. No one dared to meet her gaze.

She was bored. _Maybe I should have brought Tatsumi along after all_, she thought sullenly before her attention was grabbed by a couple of soldiers dragging a young man towards her. She turned to them and looked at the soldier closest to her.

"Sorry to disturb you ,general, but this prisoner insists that he has something important to tell you. We were about to shut him up but it seems like he actually knows quite a lot about the warden's secret dealings."

Esdeath looked down at the prisoner. He was slightly beat up. His lip was broken and he had an ugly wound on his forehead. He was a bit shorter than her and had black hair and brown eyes. He could not be out of his teenage years yet.

"The warden is dead already. What information can you offer me that would be useful, now that all his dealings in this world are done." She placed her hands on her hips.

The boy looked up at her. "Believe me, my lady. You want to hear what I have to say."

She gave him a dull look."Do you know who I am?"

The young man nodded.

"Then you should know that this is not my first time doing this. How many times do you think people have tried to buy time from me by promising that they were sitting on valuable information?"

The boy was unpertubed. "Then they were fools. I'm diffrent! The warden of the west was not working alone. I can provide you with proof."

"Tell me about this proof you speak of." Esdeath answered. Sounding a little bit more interested.

"Not so fast." the young man exclaimed with suprising vigour. "Give me your word that you will let me and two other persons of my chosing go free. If you promise me that, I will tell you everything I know."

"I will decide how to reward you depending on the information you give me." Esdeath answered in a hard tone.

"I will not tell you anything until you give me your word." he said. Looking her in the eyes defiantly. The soldiers holding him looked at each other uncomfortably. The boy was about to make a huge mistake.

"I will not ask you again."

"Then I guess you might as well kill me here. If you don't give me your word, I won't tell you anything!" the boy shouted angrily.

Esdeath looked at him for a couple of seconds. Then a smile formed on her face.

"Ohh you will, little boy." she said in a much more gentle tone. She reached up and trailed two elegant fingers down his chin lightly. "You will."

She looked up at the soldiers. "Lock him up in an empty room in the remaining building. I will handle his questioning personally. After that you can go and tell the rest of the soldiers to finish up. We are leaving before sunrise."

"Yes, general." The soldiers said in unison. The boy was now looking a bit uncertain as they dragged him off.

Esdeath turned and walked up to the dragon, which obediently lowered it's head when she got close. She walked up to it's side and dislodged one of the small bags that were attached to it with ropes and belts. She checked it's content to see that all she needed was there.

She smiled. At least she would have something to do for a while.

* * *

Bellany sneaked her way through the military district. Heading right for the imperial archives.

It was not hard to figure out where Tatsumi was heading. This military district consisted mainly of barracks, armouries and the archives. There was no weapon in the armouries that could match a teigu and if he wanted to talk to someone in the barracks he would have done so during the day when he could do it in public without anybody thinking anything was out of the ordinary.

Considering that he had gone through the trouble of jumping over the rooftops and activating his Incursio, this was probably something big. And the most important place around was the big stone building that contained the empire's military archives. Her guess was that he intended to steal a couple of files or maybe alter some of them in order to protect some of his friends in the revolutionary army.

She had gotten the notice that the soldiers that were following Tatsumi had lost him just thirty minutes ago. They had seen him activate his teigu but then he had disappeared from their sight. They had been very apologetic fot what they thought were a failure on their part but Bellany was well aware of Incursio's abilities.

She had , however, opted for going after Tatsumi alone. And she was gonna try to sneak in after him.

She wanted to catch him in the act. That was the only way she was gonna be able to reveal his true nature to Esdeath.

That however,might require her to break some rules. It was necessary if she was gonna be able to follow him. If she alerted the guards stationed around and inside the building then Tatsumi would just postpone whatever plans he had until later and disappear into the night. If she demanded entrance into the archives herself it would probably give the same results.

So she was gonna sneak in after him. Which was why she hadn't taken any soldiers with her. They might follow her into this if she asked them but she didn't want to force them to break the law out of loyalty to her. Not when she was only acting on a hunch.

She closed in on the huge building. She climbed up on the roof of one of the houses close to it. Keeping her presence concealed. When she was up on the roof she looked around and made sure that nobody had noticed her. After that she jumped over to the roof of the imperial archives as silently as she could.

The biggest problem was, of course, Incursio's ability to stay invisible for an extended time. Unlike her pawns, she was well-read about the diffrent teigu users in the empire's service. She knew about Incursio's abilities and she knew that he couldn't stay invisible forever. Even if he managed to stay invisible through his entire visit, she would still be able to hear him and see the things he touched. She still felt confident that she could do it. She had started her military career as a scout. Now she would get use out of all the abilities she had trained up during that time. She just had to stay completly on edge.

She moved over to one of the walls, attached a rope to the roof and climbed down to one of the highest windows and started to pick it's lock from the outside.

She was pretty sure that Tatsumi was already inside by now. If he was not, then she simply just needed to sneak out without anybody noticing her.

When the lock was open she climbed in through the window into a small room filled with chairs and tables. Some kind of storage room, she concluded. She silently closed the window behind her after cutting of her rope and then snuck out of the room.

She knew the layout of this building pretty well. She had spent many days within these walls. Organizing reports and documentations of campaings concerning Esdeath's legions. She had a couple of guesses of where Tatsumi would go.

She started to slowly search through the dark halls. Keeping herself hidden and avoiding the occasional guard patrol that came walking through. She stayed in each room for a good ten minutes before moving on. Trying to detect any sound or movement. Keeping all her senses as sharp as she could.

She was sneaking through one of these rooms when she, by pure happenstance, put her hand on one of the bookshelves and noticed a damp sensation against her fingers. She was a bit suprised. She smelled the liquid but it seemed to be scentless. After further inspection she found that there was a small trail of the sticky liquid going down from the bookshelf and leading away across the floor.

She was certain that this was Tatsumi's doing. She followed the trail silently. It was not more than an inch wide but it lead her through room after room. It lead up to diffrent shelves and drawers but then always trailed down to the floor again. Continuing away into the next room.

The trail came to an end in yet another large room. Filled with rows of bookshelves. She halted, unsure if she had gone the wrong way. But no sooner had she stopped before she heard a silent "plop". It sounded like a bottle being opened.

She immediately crouched down. He was in this room. She was certain of it. She needed to conceal herself immediately. She sneaked up to one of the many bookshelves in the room and then jumped up on top of it as silently as she could. She stayed completly still there for a moment. Listening for any sound that might reveal his location. She couldn't hear anything though.

She stayed up there for some moments. Then she slowly started to move along the top of the bookshelf. Crawling on top of it. Looking around to see if she could detect any motions or changes in the scenery that would reveal his location. She got to the end of it but she still had no idea of where he was.

She was about to jump down from the shelf when she heard the sound of two stones hitting each other. She looked over and saw a faint light emanating up from between some shelves on the other side of the room.

She immediately drew her weapon. A long and extremly thin dagger. It was coated in a paralyzing poison. She only needed to get a small cut on Tatsumi and he would be rendered helpless. Then she could easily bring him before justice without any resistance at all from his part.

She quickly jumped across the shelves until she finally was able to see him. He was crouching with his back against her. He was looking over past the corner of the shelf that he was crouching beside. He was not wearing the armour that was his teigu so she guessed that he had dismissed it temporarily. He was holding a small torch in his hand and had an opened bottle standing beside him on the floor.

Bellany felt how a feeling of accomplishment filled her. She had been right about him all along. No one else had realized his true colours but she had. This was no time for self-admiration, though. She moved the long dagger into her right hand. She leaned over the edge as much as she could before lightly kicking away from it. Launching herself towards his back without making a sound.

Somehow he still managed to detect her though.

In the last second he shifted his body to the side so that her first stab with the knife missed him. She had however put herself in a position in the air where she could cope with that mistake. When he avoided the knife she immediatly kicked out with her leg before even touching the ground. Hitting him in the back with a powerful kick. He was sent tumbling forward and knocked over the bottle that was standing beside him. It's content pouring out on the floor.

He quickly regained his feet and turned around just in time to stop her next stab. She was aiming for his shoulder but he dropped the torch and managed to grab her arm with both his hands. Halting it's movement just in time. Yet again Bellany kicked against his side and once again he had no way of defending against it. He let go of her arm as he was sent flying a couple of meters through the air and landed on his side.

Bellany was hot on his trail again. This time she launched herself against his legs. Ready with her dagger. He would not be able to avoid her now that he was laying down and even if he answered with a kick she would still be able to get a small cut in him and then she would have won.

He did indeed answer with a kick. But just as his leg was about to connect with the knife it became armour-clad. The armout materializing from thin air, right in front of her eyes.

Bellany didn't know that these days, Tatsumi could summon Incursio without even touching the teigu. He just needed to have it a couple of centimeters from his body.

Being able to summon Incursio effectively had been the first thing Esdeath had trained him to do. He had already been pretty proficient at doing so without any trouble but the standards that Esdeath demanded of him had been far higher.

She had been particulary unforgiving during this training since she saw this as the best way to increase his survival ratio. If he could summon it effortlessly, in the blink of an eye, then he would have a much better chance to survive suprise attacks from assassins. So she had been completly ruthless when training him in this matter. Putting every little trick she knew about training to use on him, to try and make sure that he would stay in this world with her.

And it had given results.

His leg knocked the knife out of Bellany's hand and smashed into her shoulder. Sending her flying backwards. She rolled over a couple of times before quickly standing up again. Picking up her dagger that was laying on the floor beside her.

Less than three seconds had passed since he avoided her first cut. As Bellany straightened her body a bit, flames started to rise up to the side of them. The contents of the knocked over bottle had reached the torch that Tatsumi had dropped. Now the fire was spreading rapidly on the floor. Climbing up on the shelves. Following the trail that Tatsumi had made.

The two combatants stood still and stared at each other. Each waiting for the other one to attack as the fire grew and spread all around them.

* * *

Esdeath walked into the small room that the soldiers had locked the young boy in. She carried a bag and a bowl filled with water. She closed the door behind her but she didn't lock it. It was not necessary anymore. The room was rather small. It seemed to be some kind of bedroom. The only furniture in it were a bed and a drawer. It was dimly lit by some candles standing on the drawer.

The boy was sitting down against the wall on the opposite side of the door. He started to rise up when she entered the room. He was unsure about the situation. Had he played his cards wrong? As long as he had the information that she wanted he was sure he could find a way to negotiate his way out of this situation.

She gave him a short glance before putting down the bag and the bowl she had with her on the drawer. She took up a small cloth bundle from the bag. It clinked when she put it down on the drawer.

"Lady Esdeath, I have a proposition. I can give you a bit of the information I have. Just so you will know that I am telling you the truth before you aceept the deal." the boy said. A bit worried.

Esdeath didn't give him any response. She took her cap off and put it on the drawer. Calmly smiling to herself. She then unbuttoned the clasp on her longcoat and threw it down on the bed.

"General Esdeath? If you don't talk with me you won't get any answers."

She started to take off one of her long gloves. Putting it down on the drawer, beside the bowl of water.

"Wait? What are you doing?"

Finally she looked over. She smiled and walked up to him. She stopped when she was less than a meter in front of him. He tried to take a step backwards but only hit his back against the wall. She looked down on him.

Something had changed but he couldn't put his finger on it. There was something about her expression that scared him. She was still smiling calmly at him but something was diffrent. It was as if a shadow had fallen over her face. The way her eyes were partly lidded. Her calm smile suddenly seemed ominous. Whatever she was gonna do, she was looking forward to it. The boy suddenly felt terrified.

He threw himself to the side. Making a run for the door. He didn't think about the consequences. Nor the fact that the entire house and the fields outside were filled with her soldiers. He just needed to get out of this room. Now.

He didn't get anywhere though. Esdeath grabbed one of his arms when he tried to move away from her. She slammed it into the wall behind him and froze it in place. She then calmly reached down to his other hand, grabbing it and putting it against the wall. Freezing it in place as well.

"Why are you trying to run away? I thought you wanted to talk to me?" she said and walked over to the drawer.

"What are you going to do?" he said. His voice suddenly filled with fear.

"I will be the one asking most of the questions during our little time together here. But first, I have some things I want to try out on you." She took off her remaining glove and placed it with the other one.

She unfolded the bundle and within it lay some small knifes, tools and a couple of syringes filled with transparent liquid.

The boy drew a sharp breath. "What are you gonna inject in me?"

"Nothing. Unless your body start giving up on me too early. But you are young and seem to have some toughness to you. I doubt they will become necessary, unless I am unusually sloppy today."

He started to understand where this was going. "I won't talk to you unless you fulfill my demands. Even if you torture me."

"Everyone talks if you are good enough. It's just a matter of not going too far too fast. If you give it enough time, the body always defeats the mind. With a little help."

The boy's face grew a little bit paler.

"The challenging thing is to discern the truth." she went on. Nonchalantly. "After a while, people will start telling you whatever they think you want to hear. Then it becomes a matter of reading the person in question. You need to detect the falsehoods and punish them severly. You need to rework the persons cognitive behavior a bit. But that is rather easy to do once they are begging for your mercy."

She took up a small knife and walked up to him.

"But you need to know the person and their body. You need to learn how they react and behave to diffrent kinds of... experiences."

She deftly cut off his clothes with the knife until he was completly naked and his clothes lay by his feet. She looked up and down his body. "But I think I will be able to learn a lot about you during our little talk." she said with a smile.

Even if the boy realized that something horrible was about to happen to him, he still couldn't stop the heat from rising to his face. Colouring his face in deep red colour. It was the first time a girl beside his mother had seen him naked.

"Ohh, don't be embarrassed." Esdeath said with an almost gentle smile. "You look just like most boys in your age do. It's nothing to be ashamed of." she continued as she walked back to the drawer. Striking the small knife into the wood so that it remained standing.

"Now, as I said, you must not be too fast with this. You need to let your victim get enough time to experience it. You need to let their minds falter over time. But we don't have much time today, since I will be leaving before the sunrise. So it will be fun to see if I will be able to get you to a state when I know you are telling me the truth. Without being too fast and put you in a state where you can't speak anymore by accident."

She picked up a long and thin metal tool. It looked like an oversized needle with a handle. She walked up to him.

"But as I mentioned, first I have a couple of things I want to try out on you. Now say "ahhhh"" she said and put one hand on the side of his face. She held the metal needle in front of his mouth.

She waited a couple of seconds but he didn't open his mouth. She quickly moved the hand that was holding the side of his head in between his lips and forced his mouth open with a strength the boy didn't know a human could have in their fingers.

She kept his mouth open with four of her fingers and placed the tip of the sharp tool against the gum on the underside of his teeth.

In the last moment the boy stopped stuggling. He looked up at her with pleading eyes, dropping all resistance. "P- pwease, I don't-"

Esdeath couldn't contain herself anymore at that sight. Her eyes widened a bit and a bestial smile that showed all of her teeth formed upon her face as the giant needle carved into the screaming boy's flesh. Her true nature coming through.

The house was already filled with sobs and cries but from that point onwards they were all overshadowed by the screams coming from the room Esdeath was occupying.

* * *

Tatsumi jumped into yet another dark room. Following Bellany. He had had managed to land a good kick in her side which had sent her flying through another doorway into the room he now was in. But he couldn't see her.

Their fighting had moved them away from the fire but he knew that he was on the clock. In two or three minutes the entire building would be aflame and by then he needed to be far away from here.

But first he needed to kill Bellany.

He was struggling to keep his panic down. If Bellany managed to escape from here then the empire's eyes would be on him for many years to come. He would not be able to act out the rest of the plan without being revealed. And if she somehow would have any proof beyond her own testimony then things might turn really bad. He had to prevent her from leaving this building.

He looked around but couldn't see her anywhere. Was she trying to run from him? Now that he had the armour of Incursio on him her dagger meant very little. He had been able to detect that the blade had been drenched in liquid but whatever poison she had prepared for him meant nothing anymore know that he was armour-clad. She herself seemed to have realized this and was now mainly attacking him with kicks.

He drew from Incursio's power and turned himself invisible but just a second after he had done so he was hit in the side of the head by Bellany's knee. When she was kicked into this room she had immediately jumped up on the door frame after regaining her footing and had been waiting for him to enter. He was sent to flying to the side. Momentarily brought out of his invisbility. It did not damage him much though.

His teigu gave him a huge advantage in this battle. It was clear that Bellany was mainly trained to be fast and nimble. Fighting with speed more than strenght. Getting a lot of small hits in on her oppponent and relying on fatigue and poisons to make her small attacks count. But his Incursio's armour was too strong for her to pierce and it did not have any openings in it that she could detect.

He landed on the side but was up on his feet again in the blink of an eye. He immediately launched himself at her. Aiming to tackle her down on the ground. It was a rather obvious attack but Tatsumi trusted that she would not bee able to muster up enough strenght to knock him of his path.

She had drawn the same conclusion and moved to the side to avoid him. Tatsumi had ,however, counted on her to do so. He shifted his body in the air, delivering a vicious kick to her side. It's strenght amplified by his momentum. She did not expect it and was unable to block it in time. It hit her in the side of her ribbcage. Sending her flying into a bookshelf nearby. Making it fall over with her laying on top of it.

Tatsumi knew that the kick had caused some damage. She would not be able to get up quickly from that. He jumped up in the air and landed with a knee on her stomach. Making her let out a pained wheeze.

He raised his fist to strike at her neck. Aiming to crush her throat. But just as he was about to do so, she threw something in his face. By mere suprise he drew a quick breath and too late he realized that it had been some kind of powder. Which he had now inhaled. He brought his fist down but he was already starting to feel dizzy. He missed her throat by a couple of centimeters.

He immediately rose up and backed of a couple of steps. Swaying a bit as he did so. He took deep breaths. Trying to rinse out whatever it was that he had inhaled. He turned invisible as he continued to stumble backwards. He felt like the world was spinning around him.

Bellany started to slowly stand up. Coughing heavily. Grabbing her side. She was clearly in no state to continue fighting. She rose on unsteady legs.

Tatsumi went down to one knee. Still staying invisible. He was unsure if he shoud try to hold his breath or if he should try to draw in deeper breaths.

Bellany looked around. Unsure of where Tatsumi was. She didn't know if he had inhaled the paralyizing powder or not. Otherwise she should expect another attack but she didn't have much energy left. That last kick had broken several of her ribs. Just taking normal breaths hurt like hell. She quickly decided that she should try to get out of here. She started to walk backwards towards the nearest door. It was only when she got closer to the door that she saw that she and Tatsumi were not alone in the room.

"Who are you?" she called out. Causing Tatsumi to look up from the floor.

When the bookshelf that Bellany flew into tipped over it became possible to look across to the other side of the room. When Tatsumi looked up he saw four persons standing beside the door. They had all stopped in their tracks when Bellany called out to them but it was obvious that they had been trying to sneak out.

Confusion filled Tatsumi's mind. The four men were dressed entirely in black clothes. It was obvious that they were not supposed to be here. If their camouflaged outfits weren't enough to convince Tatsumi then the fact that they were carrying weapons did. They had masked their faces with cloth so that only their eyes were visible.

But they were far too tall and slender for Tatsumi to mistake who they were.

Why were they here? The panick he had been supressing grew stronger. He needed to get out of here. The last thing he needed was more witnesses and he didn't know how much longer he could keep his invisibility up when his entire head was reeling from the powder that he had inhaled. Half the building was probably already aflame and soon the half they were in would follow the same fate.

He started to move out of the room as fast as he could without falling over or bumping into things. He would have to hope that Bellany would get consumed by the fire. If not, it would be his word against her's. He hoped that Esdeath would take his side if it came down to it but he wasn't entirely sure. He thought she would.

It was useless to stay here anyway. He could not hope to continue fighting and still keep his invisibility when he was this delirious. He couldn't risk more people seeing him here.

He walked out of the room without looking back. Heading straight down a long corridor. He tried to listen for what was happening in the room he had left but he couldn't keep his concentation in one place. He thought he heard shouting. His perception of time started to become unsteady. Some guards ran past him at some point. He stopped to rest but almost immediately started moving again. Unsure of how long he had been standing there.

And then suddenly, he was outside. Walking out of one of the now unlocked doors. Left open now when people where rushing out of the building. Escaping the smoke and the fire.

He drew a couple of deep breaths. Finally his mind started to clear a bit. He stood there for half a minute and then started to run away from the building. He climbed up on one of the nearest buildings and started to jump across the rooftops.

He only dared to dissmiss Incursio twenty minutes later when he was far away from the military district. He tried to assess the situation as he kept jumping. Maybe this was not as bad as it seemed. He was pretty sure that Bellany was the only one who had actually seen him there. He could also assume that she did not have any evidence except her own testimony. Otherwise she would not have needed to attack him.

No, it was gonna be his word against her's now. That might not be the worst scenario. If he had actually managed to kill Bellany then Esdeath would probably start looking closer at what he was doing anyway. She herself had stated that if Bellany suddenly "disappeared" then Tatsumi would be her first suspect.

He needed to be on the safe side though. If Bellany actually had some kind of evidence then he needed to make sure that the next part of the operation would go smoothly without him since Esdeath would probably start to restrict his movements if it was revealed that he had been the one to set the archives aflame. He needed to see to it that the message he had prepared was delivered to the great general, with or without him.

When he reached a more rundown part of the slums he finally stopped for a quick moment and turned around to look at the fire.

He could even see it from here. The building itself was mainly made out of stone so it wasn't burning but the fire was gushing out through all the windows and rose so high that the flames reconnected with each other above the building itself. Making it look like a giant candle. It was lightning up the entire military district and shone strongly against the dark sky. It was quite pretty actually, Tatsumi thought.

He stood there and watched it for quite a long while. Now there was no going back. Now the first step was taken. Accomplished with planning and fire. Now he had set flame to the sleeping giant. Now he only needed to watch the fire spread and wait until it started to notice that it was burning.

He only noticed that he was crying when a couple of his tears hit the palm of his hand. He brought his hand up to his face and felt that his chins were wet with silent tears.

He clenched his teeth.

Leyasu and Sayo.

Sheele and Lubbock.

Bro.

Mine...

None of it was in vain! He would not let it be in vain! He would give their deaths meaning!

He would give their sacrifices a purpose!

He swore it internally to himself once again as the tears kept coming. As he had done so many times before.

He cast one last look at the most beautiful fire he had ever seen before he jumped down from the roof. Disappearing into the night.

* * *

A soldier walked in to the small bedroom only to find Esdeath washing her hands in the bowl of water she had brough with her. The water in turning into a dark red color.

"Yes, soldier?" she said. Giving him a smile. She seemed to be in a rather good mood.

"We are ready to move out, general." He said and handed her a towel he had brought with him.

She took it and wiped her hands off. "Good. I will be moving ahead of you. I have some people I need to talk to in the capital as soon as possible."

"So you did manage to get the information you wanted?" He looked over to the young boy but quickly averted his eyes. It was an unpleasant sight. Even to a hardened soldier, such as himself.

"Of course." she said as she started to put on her long gloves. "I am pretty confident that he was telling the truth as well but I will need to verify it."

"Anything that you want us to know about?"

"No. I will play this one close to the chest." she said and put on her white longcoat.

The soldier recoiled a bit as a small wheezing sound was heard from the boy. "He's still alive?"

The boys body looked horrible. A pool of blood had formed under his feet. His legs were not holding him up anymore. He just hang from his arms. His fingers were ruined. As was both of his eyes, his mouth and his genitals. Most of his body was also covered in cuts and lacerations.

"Hmm? Yeah, he probably got a couple more hours in him if he is left untouched." Esdeath said and cast an uninterested gaze at what remained of the boy.

"How did you manage to get any information from him if you destroyed his tongue?" the soldier asked. Slightly disgusted.

"He was unable to form sentences long before I made his mouth useless." She put her cap on and grabbed her bag. "Burn this house as well." she said and started to move out.

"Do you want me to finish the boy off?"

"Do as you wish. I'm done with him." She said and waved her hand in the air as she walked out of the room.

The soldier looked at the boy for a while. Then he gathered his resolve and drew his sword.

Esdeath walked out into the yard. The smell of fire and ash met her as she drew a deep breath from the cool air. The sky was slowly getting brighter. Signaling that a new day was upon them.

All of the other houses had now burned down to the ground and twenty people hanged crucified around the estate. Their cries and moans were the loudest noises that could be heard. The rest of the area had grown rather peaceful now that most of the others were dead. The only fire that still burned bright was the large pyre where the soldiers were burning the bodies of everyone but the last twenty people they were going to take with them to the capital.

She walked up to her steed. Her second-in-command stood by it's side. Waiting for her to come out when she was done with her fun. The rest of her soldiers were preparing for the journey back behind him. Saddling the horses and putting ropes and chains on the twenty people that they were taking with them.

"Leave as soon as you are ready. I will depart immediately." Esdeath said. She jumped up on the dragon.

"As you command." the man answered."Sorry for stepping out of line, general, but was the information that dire?"

Esdeath looked up into the sky. "I don't know if I would say that. But if the information uncovered here turns out to be true then we have some intresting times ahead of us." she said with a smile that was joyous but not comforting.

"I understand, general." the soldier answered. Unwilling to bother her for more information.

She nodded to him and snapped with the reins. Making the huge beast lift it's wings and take off into the air.

* * *

Bellany limped through the long corridors of the lower level of the palace as fast as she could. Heading for the closest barrack belonging to Esdeath's forces. Clasping her hand around the wound in her side that Tatsumi had caused with his last kick. The bleeding had stopped so if she got it treated relatively soon she would be fine in a week or so.

It was a sweet pain though. It reminded her that she finally had something on Tatsumi. He had not merely intended to steal something from the archives. He had been meaning to burn them down. She still didn't know how he had managed to get everything burning so fast. He must have prepared for this for a long time. But if she made her accusations publicly known now the imperial court would have to look into what Tatsumi had been doing the last months. He was as good of a suspect as any, even without her accusations.

The most rewarding part of it all was that Esdeath would have to start questioning him now. She would need to start doubting his loyalty. The imperial court would require her to keep a close eye on Tatsumi. Bellany was sure that Esdeath would start to notice the flaws in Tatsumi and his loyalty if she just started to inspect him more closely.

She would jump for joy if she wasn't hurting so much.

"Are you wounded, soldier?" She recognized the voice.

She looked up and saw a familiar man walking towards her in a brisk pace. Parts of his damaged and destroyed longcoat being dragged behind him on the floor.

"General Makeias! You can't imagine how glad I'am to see you." she said and smiled a tired smile. "I have important news to pass on."

"First things first." Makeias answered in a hard tone. He placed a steadying hand on her shoulder and looked over at her side. "How bad are your injuries?"

"It's nothing too serious, sir. I will have it treated when I get to the barracks." Makeias nodded and looked at her face again. "General, the imperial archives are burning."

"I have been told."

"It's a case of arson, sir. And I know who the perpertrator is!"

"Speak." the general said. His tone suddenly hard.

"It's Tatsumi, sir. Tatsumi of the jaegers."

This earned her a questioning look from Makeias. "Are you sure of this? This is no small accusation. You are aware of his standing with your commander?"

"I am well aware." she answered bitterly. "That is why it is so important that we let her know about this."

"Let me escort you to the barracks in that case." Makeias said and held out a hand to her.

"Thank you, sir." She grabbed his hand. Using it so steady herself as they began to walk down the corridor.

"Was Tatsumi acting alone?" Makeias asked.

"No, sir. He had some accomplices with him tonight."

"Would you be able to identify them?"

She thought for a moment. "Yeah, I think so. They had masked their faces but they had such distinguishable body forms that I think would easily recognize them."

"I see. Have you been able to discern any other strange activities from Tatsumi during his months here in the capital?"

"No but I have always expected something like this. He was visiting the night raid member that Esdeath brought back the other day and I know that he made several attempts to meet the last member of the night raid that we captured. But he was unable to do so before Esdeath dealt with the vigilante."

"Dealt with,huh? Well I can imagine what that means." Makeias said with a canny look on his face. "Anyway, you have worked hard for the empire and it's people, Bellany. You should be proud of yourself."

Before she could give her thanks, he let go of her hand.

"I relieve you of your duties."

Bellany didn't feel anything hit or pierce her body but suddenly an immense pain spread from her chest. The pain from the wound that Tatsumi had given her increased tenfold and started to expand throughout her body.

She fell down on her knees. It was getting harder for her to breath. Horrified she looked at her hands and saw how the veins under her skin were turning black.

"General?" she said in a hoarse voice and looked up at Makeias. He was looking down on her with an empty expression on his face. She understood, that somehow, this was his doing.

"Why?" she asked desperately.

She didn't get any answer. Tears started to run down her face from the pain. Tears that were slowly turning black with the rest of her body fluids. Making her vision blurry. She reached up with a hand towards Makeias. Trembling heavily as her strength started to leave her.

"All I have ever done, I have done for the sake of the empire and it's people." she defended in an unsteady voice. Her hand trembled and was about to fall down when Makeias grabbed it.

He crouched down in front of her so that their eyes were at the same level. Holding both his hands around her trembling one. He looked at her with a sad smile.

"As have I." he whispered as his teigu quenched the last life in Bellany's body.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**This is actually the first chapter that didn't have any interactions between Tatsumi and Esdeath at all. Don't worry though. They will be back in full swing in the next one. Though in a slightly diffrent nature. Expect the next chapter to be released at the end of next week. About 7 days from now. As usual.**

**The latest chapter of the manga****(56)**** worries me a bit. Even though it deviated a bit from the anime's storyline it is still following it relatively closely. The fact that some sources say that we are going into the last arc of the manga doesn't help. While other sources say that there is a lot more to come. I just hope that the anime haven't spoiled the manga for us. I have already stated how unsatisfying I personally found the anime ending to be.**

**But hey! Bent but not Broken now has more than a hundred followers. I am so proud. Thanks to all of you for reading and taking interest in my story. It is you and your comments and attention that keeps this going at such a fast pace. Thank you!**

**By the way, if you write a review/comment without an account on this site ****then**** it may take a day or two before it is displayed publicly. I do however recieve a mail with your review/comment immediately after you send it so don't worry. I read every single word you write to me.**

**Have a great day and take care of each other.**


	8. Loyalty and bindings

**A little bit late. **

**Sorry about that.**

* * *

**Loyalty and bindings.**

Tatsumi threw a low kick towards Wave's leg but the other boy managed to avoid it by jumping up a little bit into the air. When he was in the air he used his position to deliver a kick against Tatsumi's chest. Tatsumi did however manage to block it in time. He was pushed back a couple of steps from the force of it.

The crowd of youngsters that had formed a ring around them in the training yard cheered Wave on with enthusiasm.

They were all part of Wave's training group. They were the ones that he trained so that they might become jaegers themselves one day. Many people saw it as a bit of a futile effort. Since Esdeath decided which warriors she would include in the jaegers and she had no intrest in this group. But she let Wave try to train them if he so wished. Even if she found it unlikely that she would ever include any of them in the jaegers.

They were shouting and cheering for Wave to win his and Tatsumi's little sparring match. They were both wearing training clothes and both carried training swords. Wave's training sword was a bit larger than Tatsumi's but Tatsuim also had a training knife attached to his belt. Both of them mainly used kicks and punches though. They were both more proficient with that.

Tatsumi lowered the arm he had used to block Wave's kick. "It seems like you are the crowd favorite." he said with a smirk.

"Everyone likes an underdog." Wave returned with a smile and jumped at him. Tatsumi simply took a couple of steps back. Not willing to engage Wave again yet.

It was early midday and he had just gotten back from his mission at the imperial archives six hours earlier. He hadn't slept for almost thirty hours and he felt it in his body. He was starting to doubt that he would be able to beat Wave in this match. But he felt no pressure to do so. The atmosphere was friendly and competitive.

Wave's students were cheering for their teacher to kick his ass but he knew that they were his friends as well.

After a good ten minutes they had both worked up quite a sweat and Wave was in the lead with seven clear hits against Tatsumi's four. He sheated his training sword. "Should we take a break?"

"Yeah, sure." Wave said. Breathing heavily as he sheated his own.

The group of people around them started to applaud. Clearly impressed by Tatsumi's and Wave's display.

"Okay, go back to your exercises."Wave shouted at them. "Just observing ain't gonna make you any better."

Tatsumi grinned at Wave. He had clearly grown very fond of his little training group. Even if his tone was harsh he always seemed to care for them.

He was considering to head back to his chambers to get some sleep. He was ,however, afraid that Esdeath would find him sleeping in the middle of the day when she returned. That would be suspicious. He needed to seem completly well-rested in case Bellany would come with her accusations to Esdeath before she met him.

He was weighing his options when an all too familiar feeling drenched his entire being. Making him realize that he was out of time either way.

The atmosphere in the training yard did a complete turn in just a second. The merriment and friendly mood was suddeny replaced with tenseness and fear. Everyone in the room felt pressured by the new presence. Standing in front of the only entrance to the training yard in her white longcoat.

"Tatsumi." Her hard and authorative tone echoed through the now completly silent yard.

Tatsumi turned to the doorway. Meeting Esdeath's hard gaze. She did not look happy. Her scowl was directed directly at him. She looked much more controlled than the malicious energy she was emenating, though. He could almost feel the anger she radiated. He had a feeling that she wanted him to feel it as well.

"Hi!" he said and tried to give her his warmest smile. "You look a little peeved. Is everything okay?"

She didn't give him an answer. She simply continued to glare at him. Her hair swaying slightly in the wind.

The youngsters from Wave's group that were standing all around him were very anxious now. Even those few that knew nothing about Esdeath could still feel the hostility she emanated. Some of them were reaching for their training swords or crouching down into fighting positions by instinct.

Wave noticed it. Wave was confident that Esdeath would never hurt one of his students unless provoked in some way but his students didn't know that. Drawing weapons or taking fighting stances against her might be all the provokation needed if she was in such a bad mood. He decided to intervene.

"Alright, that is enough for today." he shouted at the youngsters. "Leave the yard and go and get changed. Now."

For a moment it looked like nobody was going to move. Esdeath was standing in front of the door. They would have to walk past her if they wanted to get out. But then they slowly started to leave in small groups. Keeping as much distance they could from the general. Some of them sweating slightly as they passed her. Esdeath didn't even give them a single glance. Her full focus was on Tatsumi.

Tatsumi himself was meeting her gaze steadly. It was a bit unfortunate that she had caught him here. He would feel better about the situation if he had Incursio but both his and Wave's teigus were in the locker room. He would not be able to reach it without passing her since she stood in front of the only way out.

The question was if Bellany had brought her any evidence that proved what he had done but he couldn't be specific in his questions without revealing himself. If he had Incursio he would actually have had to consider running away from her for a little while. Just to fix some more things before she took away his freedom entirely.

Now it was not an option, though. Without Incursio he had no chance in the world to escape her in this situation. He would have to place all his hopes on that Bellany didn't have a strong case against him.

"I feel like our interactions these last days have mostly consisted of you being irritated with me for one reason or another."he said with a smile and a shrug. "Maybe we should get some help with that." he tried to joke.

The entire yard grew much colder as Esdeath let some of her powers out. Demonstrating that she was in no mood for jokes without saying a word.

This could get messy, Tatsumi thought. It seemed like it would be safer to assume the worst right now.

"You go too, Wave" he said silently.

Wave looked at Tatsumi. This was exactly the kind of problem he thought that the prime minister wanted him to help them with. He had no idea of why Esdeath seemed so angry. And it seemed like Tatsumi thought that his attendance was a bother. But he still figured that he was obligated to try.

"Tatsumi I think you coul-"

"Wave, listen to me!" Tatsumi's tone was so serious that the other man stopped and stared at him in suprise.

"If we don't see each other again, then I want you to take care of the letter we talked about. Do you understand?" he said as he kept his eyes on Esdeath. He knew that she was not going to kill him but if all he had done had been exposed to her then she was probably going to take his freedom away from him for the foreseeable future.

Esdeath's nostrils flared when she heard him say that and she started to walk towards Tatsumi in a brisk pace. Her expression growing even angrier.

Wave was shocked to hear Tatsumi say that. He stood gaping for a moment before he desperately reacted. He turned to Esdeath. "Commander, please wait. I don't know what has happe-"

"WAVE!" Tasumi roared. Forcing the now panicking Wave to look at him.

"Do you understand what I asked of you?" Tatsumi almost shouted. Looking his friend in the eyes. He needed to get his point across. That letter had to reach it's destination.

Wave didn't have time to answer him before Esdeath's hand grabbed Tatsumi's throat and hoisted him off the ground. Lifting him above her head. He grabbed her arm with both of his own. Not really trying to dislodge himself. Just lifting his body up so that it became more comfortable to breath.

"Commander!" Wave shouted, reaching for his training sword. He knew that any attempt to fight her was futile but he would not just stand on the side and watch her kill Tatsumi. Even if she was his respected commander.

"I hope you realize that you just insulted me." Esdeath asked in a hard voice. "How many of my subordinates are dead because of your involvment with night raid? I forgave you for that, didn't I. And yet you honestly think that I would kill you now?"

"So did you just come here to spar then?" Tasumi said with a very strained smile. Maybe he could make her mood little bit lighter if he played around with her a bit. He reached down and grabbed his training sword and started to unsheate it.

The grip around his throat tightened as soon as he did. When he looked at her she slowly shook her head at him."Do you want me to administer your punishment right now, here in the training yard?" she asked. Keeping a hard and cold voice as she did. Making Tatsumi stop his movement. "Since you were provoked for a long time, I will give you the option to take it in the privacy of our chambers,if you wish."

Tatsumi realized that he, for the moment, was talking to the general and not his lover. He should have seen it coming since her loyalty to her subjects would force her to be hard on him. She often hurt and played around with him on her own free will for enjoyment but the few times when she had been obligated to do so because of her duties, she usually didn't let her feelings play into it too much. However, unlike his lover, who just did what she felt like, Esdeath the general could be reasoned with.

"I don't even know what I am accused of." he wheezed through her hard grip.

She raised an eyebrow at him. She brought his face closer to her own so that they only were a little bit apart. She looked him straight in the eyes, still keeping her cold expression.

"Where is she, Tatsumi? I want to give her body to her family." she whispered to him in a threatening way.

Tatsumi was still unsure of what was going on but now he could manage a guess. "I have no idea of what you are talking about."

"Then why did you just tell Wave that you were about to never see each other again?" she asked, a little bit louder.

"I'am not sure that you believe in innocent until proven guilty and you seemed kinda pissed off. So I guessed someone had lied to you about me."

"I have a good intuition about these kind of things, Tatsumi. And I have been angry at you before without you starting to bid farewell to your friends."

"And you don't even think I deserve the benefit of the doubt?"

She lightened her grip a little bit. "You are my main suspect, Tatsumi. And I warned you that I would punish you if you killed her."

"Killed who?" Wave asked. He had been very unsure of what was going on ever since they started talking but he had chosen to take a backseat as soon as it was clear that she wasn't going to kill Tatsumi.

"Bellany has not reported in today." Esdeath answered without leaving Tatsumi with her eyes.

"So what? She might have overslept!" Tatsumi said as he struggled to get more comfortable.

"This is the first time during her entire military career that she hasn't checked in on time. Her attendants have checked her quarters and she hasn't been there since yesterday and an anonymous source say that the last time she was seen was during the night. When she apparently was chasing you through the slums." Esdeath said. Still looking at Tatsumi.

"With all due respect, general.", Wave said loudly. Trying to make the situation easier. "As long as those sources are anonymous, they can't be fully trusted. You know that there are many people in the capital that would love to frame Tatsumi for something like this."

Esdeath turned her gaze to Wave. Making the young man uncomfortable now that he momentarily was recieving the same pressure Tatsumi had been feeling since she entered the yard. Tatsumi was quick to jump on Wave's train of thought

"Whoever sent you that information knows more about what has happened to Bellany than I do. You should be looking into who they are instead of coming here."

"I'am already having people look into it. I still think you are hiding something from me though, Tatsumi." she said, returning her gaze to him. "You haven't answered why you told Wave that you wouldn't see each other again."

It seems that his panic had digged his own grave for him, Tatsumi reflected.

"I have many secrets that I want to keep for myself. You can't demand to know them all." He looked her in the eyes. Trying to look as fierce as he could when his feet were dangling in the air. "You are my partner. Not my mind. I did not kill Bellany and I have no idea of where she is."

He was careful to formulate himself so that he was telling the truth. Just in case that she knew more than she was saying or if she indeed had a good enough intuition to tell the diffrence. Wave was quick to jump in and try to help Tatsumi's case.

"He is right, commander! Everyone carries secrets with them. You can't demand to know every single thing in his head. That is simply unreasonable."

Esdeath cast Wave a short glance and then looked at Tatsumi. "Maybe." she said. Still keeping her hard and cold expression. "Then I will have to solve this through other means."

She threw him a decimeter up in the air and then caught him with both her hands. Moving his body sideways as she did. Now carrying him bridal style. With one arm behind his shoulders and another one under his thighs. She looked down on him. Still looking quite irritated.

"I will not allow you to run around until I have decided if these anonymous sources are reliable or not." she said as she tightened her grip around him.

"Ohh, come on." Tatsumi complained. Even if he just sounded like he was whining he was feeling the fear rising. This might actually be bad. He needed to be able to move around freely in the capital. It might be better if he just lie to her and say that he killed Bellany and then take the punishment for it. Then she might let him have his freedom back after that.

Esdeath turned around and started to walk out of the yard, carrying Tatsumi in her arms. Wave looked at her back. Uncertain of what to do.

"Esdeath" Tatsumi said meekly. Deciding that it would be better to be submissive right now. He pulled lightly on the black collar of her uniform. She looked down at him without turning her head."Incursio."

She stopped in the doorway that lead out of the training yard. She looked at him for a second and then turned around. "Wave, you will be looking over Incusio until I have resolved this situation. I don't have to tell you what happens if you lose it."

"Of course, commander!" Wave said and saluted by instinct. She turned and started to walk again.

"Wave," Tatsumi shouted," please take care of my other things as well, ok?" He didn't dare to mention the letter again or Esdeath might catch on to it. He had to hope that Wave understood.

"Sure." Wave answered as Esdeath left the yard with Tatsumi in her arms. He felt like he had failed to be of much help to Tatsumi. He would have to try and help them resolve this later on.

Esdeath walked through the castle with Tatsumi in her arms. Receiving many stares and odd looks. People behind them pointing and whispering. Some might actually have tried to cheer them on or whistle at them if Esdeath hadn't been emanating such a fearsome aura right now.

Tatsumi himself would had been more embarrassed about being carried around in this position if he hadn't been so busy working through the situation in his head. Incursio was now out of his reach so as long as she was around he would not be able to escape. The question was for how long she was going to restrain him.

"Hey, where are we going?" he asked quietly. Sinking in under the cover of her longcoat that swayed back and forth with her steps. Trying to express submission.

"I'am going to chain you down in our bedroom for the time being." She said without looking at him.

"For how long?"

"Until I am more certain of the situation." she said as she started to climb a huge staircase.

"I thought you saw me as a person and not just another toy that you could lock up in your bedroom when bored." he said. Making, what he knew was, a likely futile attempt to make her change her mind.

"Would you prefer the dungeons then?" she said in her hard voice. Looking down on him.

"No." he sighed. "I can actually walk on my own, you know? Without Incursio I have no chance of running away from you either way."

Her grip on him tightened so much that it hurt. "Ouch, ouch. Okay, okay. I get it." He said and looked up at her. Being faced by her ice-cold gaze.

"You are my mate and for that you will get benefits when they are mine to give." she said and lightened her hands pressure a little. Still holding him in a iron grip. "I am ,however, still a general of the empire and I will uphold my duties to my subordinates. You will get the luxury of being detained in my quarters instead of the dungeons. But I will not suffer you trying any tricks or give the impression that I am letting you do entirely what you want."

"You must really have liked this specific counselor, since her presumed death have made you so much more angrier than you usually get when losing a subordinate." Tatsumi said with a smirk.

"I do not tolerate insubordination in my own ranks and I don't like it when my own personal wishes kills people that I have promised protection. Right now it would seem like I have let just that happen by letting my love for you determine too much of my actions."

"I didn't kill her, Esdeath. I promise you."

Esdeath didn't answer him. She lift gaze up to the deserted corridor they were now walking through. Thinking about the situation.

"Come on. You are getting ahead of yourself. At least save your anger for when you actually know the truth."

He reached up and started to stroke his forehead against her jawbone. Trying to be a little bit more physical in his pleading.

She returned his movements almost immediately. Stroking her head down lightly against his in a snuggling motion. She closed her eyes as she did but still kept her stern expression.

For Esdeath, these were two completly diffrent things. He was her partner and she had promised him that if he ever needed love or intimacy then she would provide it. She enjoyed doing so, even now. That didn't mean that she wouldn't punish him harshly as a general. She would not be as hard on him as she would be on her other subordinates if they had done the same thing. But that was as far as she was willing to compromise her responsibilities. She would even handle his punishment personally, unwilling to let anyone else hurt him. And then she would later lick his wounds for him.

So if he wanted some affection or intimacy from her then of course he would get it. Even if she might be preparing to hurt him at the same time.

This all seemed completly natural to her. Even if it still baffled Tatsumi how she could differentiate these things so easily.

They had now arrived at Esdeath's quarters. She opened one of the doors with her elbow and shoulder. Closing it behind her with her foot. As she walked over to their bedroom, Tatsumi decided that getting a bit more aggressive might distract her from locking him up.

He started to lick her in long strokes up her throat. Stopping at her jawbone before going down and beginning from her collarbone again. A not very gentle grin formed on Esdeath's face. She tilted her head slightly upwards as she kept walking. Making it easier for him to keep giving her his submissive affection. She liked how he tried to please her in a physical way just to get her favor. It was like he established his submission to her with every stroke of his tongue.

When Tatsumi noticed that she was enjoying what he was doing he moved his hand down. He dislodged his small training knife that was attached to his side as sneakly as he could. Hiding it in the lining on the backside of his underwear.

She walked up to the bed with him and then unceremoniously dropped him down on it before walking over to a drawer in the room. She took of her longcoat and put it on top of it and then rummaged through the drawer for a bit. When she walked back she was carrying two sets of handcuffs, a belt and a chain.

"Take off your training clothes and weapons." she said as she opened up the handcuffs."Otherwise this will become uncomfortable over time."

"So you mean to say that this will be comfortable?" he said as he started to take off his clothes.

"Not particulary, no. But I have a rather important meeting I need to attend to now. A meeting with the prime minister which I can't really bring you along to. So you will have to wait here. I will be back with dinner for you after it is done." She attached the belt to the chain and then locked the chain to a hook positioned on the wall above their bed.

"So you mean that I will be laying here all day." he said in a complaining tone as he took of the last off his training cloths. Now sitting on his knees in the bed, only in his briefs.

She didn't answer him. Her eyes were locked on the colorful bruises on his side and back. The blue and black marks from the two kicks Bellany had given him during the night. Tatsumi didn't bother with trying to cover them up now that she had seen them.

She climbed up on the bed and sat down in front of him. One knee on each side of his legs. She laid down the chain and cuffs on his side and then lightly trailed her fingers over the mark on the side of his chest. Her eyes closely studying it. Tatsumi stayed still and let her examine him. It served no purpose to stop her now.

"..a knee, most likely.." she silently said to herself. She put a strong hand on his shoulder and forced him to turn slightly to the side so that she could look at the other big one on his back. "..this one as well.." she said and put her fingers on it. "And they are both still really warm. This damage is fresh."

She turned his body back and looked him in the eyes with the same stern expression. "Tatsumi?" she said with a demanding tone.

"I received some hits during training."

"Even if it was just the damage on your side I would still be sceptical. You know that I am in favour of harsh excercise but.." ,she gently put her hand over the blue mark on his side "this would have broken all of your ribs if you hadn't been hardened by training. Besides, it looks like someone has kicked you straight in the back with the intention of seriously damaging you."

He doggedly kept silent. Staring her in the eyes.

"Come on, Tatsumi." she said. Her voice growing gentle. The hand on his shoulder trailed up to his neck and started to slowly stroke the side of it. "It's obvious that the one on your back is from a suprise attack. It seems like you didn't even have Incusio activated." ,she looked him in the eyes with a concerned expression. Moving a little bit closer. "If she ambushed you then that changes everything. I will not even have to punish you if you killed her in something akin to self-defense."

Tatsumi considered lying to her and say that he had killed Bellany in self-defense. Though, if he did that then he would have to make up a story about how it had happened and he had no way to fabricate any evidence for it right now. He didn't even know if Bellany really was dead or not. The risks were too many.

"It's just from training." he said and looked down on his hands.

Esdeath was reminded of how he had refused her for two days down in the dungeons before she finally managed to get him to surrender to her. She remembered how he had completly shut her out from everything. She remembered how powerless it made her feel.

She hated this.

She clenched her teeth. Tatsumi could feel how her irritation returned. She reached down and took up the belt and the handcuffs. She bent forward and reached around his sides with her arms. She started lock his legs togeter by the ankles, behind his back. Her fingers making sure that the metal bindings were not sitting too tight.

Tatsumi had already realized how she intended to bind him down. She was gonna lock his arms and feet together behind his back and then connect the four of them together with a belt which was attached to the wall with the chain. It was not gonna be easy to move around. He knew from experience.

She straightened up a little bit and took hold of his arms, moving them behind his back. When she did this, her face was right in front of his. He made a final try to appease her through a more physical interaction, since it seemed to have worked when she was carrying him. He leaned in and kissed her. Pushing his tongue against her lips. She halted in her binding of him and immediately responded. Opening her mouth and moving her tongue out to welcome him.

They stayed like that for some moments before she started to move her arms again. Continuing to lock his arms up behind his back while her tongue was still moving around in his mouth. When his hands were cuffed together she let go of his arms and placed her hands on his back. After a moment she moved her head away a little bit from him. Disconnecting their mouths.

She smiled at him. But it was more of a domineering smile than a compassionat one. Then she quickly moved her hand down into his underwear and grabbed the training knife he had hidden in it's lining.

She put it in front of his face while still keeping the same smile.

He looked at it and then at her for a second. "Sorry." he said and lowered his gaze.

She threw the knife over her shoulder so that it landed on the drawer she had put her longcoat on. She then moved her hands back down and grabbed his butt through his briefs.

"And you dare to question why I didn't let you walk here on your own.". It was a sweet voice but Tatsumi could feel that there was a malicious joy behind it. She liked to break his hopes of opposing her. She wanted him to understand that she possesed all of him. Including his hopes and wishes.

She leaned in and gave his lips a small lick. Her arms grabbed the belt behind his back, starting to close the final clasp on his bindings.

"Please don't bind me up here, Esdeath. I will be bored out of my mind! Can't you just lock the doors or something? Then I can at least can walk around in these rooms." He asked her. Trying to look as remorseful as he could. _If he could walk around then he could pick the door locks._

Esdeath halted herself.

"Okay then, I will give you a chance." She straightened up a bit more so that she was looking down on him. Her hands still holding the last clasp behind his back. "Tatsumi, why did you tell Wave that you were never gonna see each other again?"

_I seem to have been beaten by my own panick_, he thought. _For now at least._ "Sorry Esdeath. That is a secret that I will continue to keep from you."

She smiled at him and closed the final clasp. Making him unable to move his arms or legs. She leaned in and gave him a peck on the head before giving him a light push with her left hand. Making him tip over to his side into the bed. Unable to keep his balance with all the bindings.

"I will be back by dinner time." she said and reached over to one of the covers and pulled it over his body. "I will bring some food back with me and then I will give you a lot of attention throughout the night, Tatsumi. Hopefully you will be a bit more talkative then."

She looked him over one last time to make sure that he was tucked into the bed properly. She nodded to herself and put a hand on her cap. "Don't hurt yourself further by trying to break free. You should know that you can't escape this."

He nodded sullenly to her. She looked at him for a moment and then walked out of the room. Heading for her meeting with the prime minister.

* * *

Wave walked through the inner streets of the capital. Heading for the military district beloning to the imperial guard. He had already been at the main office of the great general but Budo had not been there so he had been asking around with the military personell that the man usually worked with and had found out that he had been walking towards this district to look over the rearrangement of their documentation.

Wave had met the great general a couple of times before. His many internal missions with the jaegers had seen him working rather closely with the imperial guard that Budo took such pride in. Not that the legions didn't deserve the praise they got. Due to their amazing resolve and morale, the imperial guard was deemed to be the force with the highest defensive capabilities in the entire empire.

Wave had actually found the great general to be a rather fair man. A bit harsh and grim but if you reached the rank of great general then you had probably seen enough fighting and death to turn a little bitter, Wave reasoned. Even if Budo was very open about how he found Tatsumi to be unworthy and how he strongly disliked the way Esdeath conducted her operations, he had still been very fair to Wave. Praising him for his work within the military and thanking him when he helped the imperial guard.

Wave reached the huge gates leding into the military district he was heading for. After quickly proving his identity to the gatekeepers he asked them if they knew where the great general currently was. They gave him some directions and he walked off.

Among all the jaegers he was probably the one who was most popular with the imperial guards. Receiving some recognizing shouts and greetings as he walked through the busy streets. There was a lot of activity going on in all parts of the military today.

The loss of the imperial archieves had sent the military into a bit of a frenzy. The loss of most records and documents that concerned the military had been quite a blow to the regular procedures. Most military institutions were at the moment calling in all soldiers and military personnel for registration and identification. Since most records of who was a part of the military and who wasn't was now lost. Anyone with a uniform could claim that they worked for the military right now and it would be hard to disprove them.

There were long lines and queues of people standing outside of diffrent buildings in the district he was walking through. All called in for that exact purpose.

He could hear the great generals booming voice from far away. Budo was standing outside of one of the bigger buildings in the district. Shouting commands at soldiers that were carrying boxes filled with papers. It seemed like the imperial guards were going to establish their own version of the imperial archives until everything was back in order again.

Wave walked up and saluted the giant man.

"Great general! May I have a moment?"

"Are you here on official buisness,Wave of the jaegers? Otherwise I can't afford to give you much of my time. There are lot of things that require my attention right now."

"Can't say I am, great general. I would ,however, implore you to still give me a moment,sir. I believe that this might be important."

Normally, Wave would not bother the great general if he was busy but Tatsumi had said that this was important. Tatsumi had told him that he had to deliver this to the great general since Budo didn't trust him.

"Well then, be quick about it, soldier." the general said and turned to him.

Wave reached over with the letter to the great general. The big man took it and looked at Wave.

"It is sealed. You are supposed to open it in private later." the young man said. Meeting Budo's gaze.

"What is it?"

"I don't know, to be completly honest. But I have been told that it is important."

"By who?" the great general asked. In his position you received quite a lot of useless letters. And poisoning was always a possibility.

"I would rather not say."

"So I am to take your word for it?"

"I haven't failed you before. Have I?" Wave said with a smile. Hoping that whatever message was inside the letter was as important as Tatsumi had claimed.

The big man looked at him for a moment.

"No, you have not." he said at last. He put the letter into a pocket and turned around and started to shout orders again.

* * *

"It is rare for you to be late to our meetings." the prime minister said while he took a big bite from the lobster tail on his fork.

He was surrounded by plates with food and folders of paper on the end of the long table that they were sharing. Esdeath sat on the other said with a single cup of tea in front of her. Her cap resting on the table. They were the only people in the giant room.

"One of my subordinates required a bit more attention than I was expecting." she said as she sipped on the tea with closed eyes. "No one can predict everything."

"Fully agreed." the big man said."But we can always try." He opened up one of the folders that lay beside the many plates.

"Have you looked up the evidence?" Esdeath asked. Putting down her tea cup.

"It's seems that about half of the information you brought have been correct. And the other half is still plausible." the prime minister said as a troubled expression formed on his face. "I have only been able to verify a few of them but the papers and wares have been at all the offices and storages that I have had raided."

"So the warden wasn't working alone,then?" Esdeath said with a calm smile. Not at all bothered by this outcome.

"No he wasn't. We have raided many of the trading caravans and agents that he governed over. And we have found a lot of hidden messages and hidden wares. I have asked a few of the involved if they knew anything about it but they denied it."

"Obviously." Esdeath commented. Crossing her fingers under her chin as she rested her head upon them.

"Which means that it is likely that your information is correct. The warden of the west was only a part of a larger network of people within the empire that planned to overthrow the current emperor." he said and took another bite of his lobster tail.

"And by that, you mean that they wanted to overthrow you." Esdeath said with a smile tinged with cruelness.

"You are associated pretty strongly with the current _state_ of the imperial court. If they were trying to overthrow me then they are also trying to remove you from office."

"I wouldn't have put myself in this position if I didn't want people to come and challenge me. And I certainly wouldn't have made myself your ally so long ago if I didn't enjoy crushing these upstarters." she said calmly.

"I 'am certainly blessed that you have these intrests then, Esdeath." he said. Throwing her a smile."I would usually not care too much about this but the fact that all of this has gone unnoticed from all my spies and informants is quite disturbing. I was pretty sure that I would know if something this big was going on." he said as he opened another folder. Rummaging through the pages.

"I don't think we have to worry about any coup d'état, now that the warden is dead but..." The prime minister went on and looked over at her.

"We can't really allow such unloyal servants to the emperor walk around unpunished." Esdeath said, her eyes narrowing a bit. Still wearing the smile.

"Exactly. Especially since they managed to arrange all of this without us noticing it." he said and drank some beer from a pitcher. "However, we need to be a bit.. discreet about it."

"Hmm?" Esdeath looked at him.

"Ever since the revolutionary army started to crumble, the great general have been gathering as much information he possibly can about the two of us. He is rather competent but the man knows nothing about subtlety." he said with a smile.

"Do you think that he is intending to present these things to the emperor in hopes of making young Makoto send us away from his service?" she said, picking up her tea cup again.

"Might be. He is probably going to turn against us sooner or later. He might be planning to present it to the rest of the military leaders as well. Hoping to turn them against us. But then the military would have to chose between him or you."

"Are you insinuating that I would revolt against my commanding officer?" she asked as she sipped some more of the tea.

"Oh come now, Esdeath. Doesn't the title great general Esdeath have a certain ring to it."

She looked at him for some moments. "Your hunger really is obscene, old man." she said with a sinister smile.

He returned the smile."You don't mind though. Do you?"

Esdeath looked up at the ceiling for some seconds. She had never really cared that much about titles as long as she could do what she wanted. If she became great general then she would have to put a lot more time into administrative work. But on the other hand, she would be able to choose whatever opponents she wished among the empire's enemies. She would also be an even higher target for those who stood against the empire, which could be pretty entertaining. And she would get a chance to fight Budo himself.

She shrugged. "I guess I don't."

The prime ministers smile grew wider."I knew you would say that. Then I trust that you will know what to do if the great general suddenly summons all the military leaders stationed in the capital."

"You aren't worried about those stationed outside of the capital?"

"If he tries to get in contact with any of the generals outside of the capital, then I will know it. If he should chose to try and turn the military against us then we can make sure that those outside of the capital only hears about the relevant parts of his betrayal after he has been dealt with."

"Which leaves one general missing from our plan. Do we have any idea of Makeias's allegiance?"

"No, not at all." The prime minister looked a little bit annoyed. "After spending all those years on the battlefield everyone expected that he was only returning to the capital so that he could retire. Yet he has chosen to stay in his position. Would he be a problem for you?" he asked and started eating on his next dish.

"I would not think so. I'm actually about to go and fight him in a sparring match later today. Then I will be able to gauge his strength. Though not his teigu since we are omitting those from the fighting. Do you know about it's capabilities?"

"I will look into it." The older man said and stroked his beard. "I do know that he actually got his teigu by accident. Since the imperial court were unwilling to send his army any."

Esdeath gave him a questioning look.

"His teigu apparently takes the form of a small knife. Some kind of assassin used the teigu as a weapon and stabbed Makeias with it. Without knowing anything about what the blade actually was. The teigu then resonated with him and he survived because of it's powers. It is supposedly still stuck into his mid-section. I will research it capabilities a bit more."

"So in other words, it is one of the lost teigus."

"It would seem so. Anyway, this is nothing we should have to worry about in the immediate future. I don't think Budo will act if we just are a bit discreet and subtle in rooting out these weeds in our dear empire. He has no reason to research anything more about these traitors, anyway. So as long as we don't make a big deal about it, then things will continue to run smoothly."

"Well then." Esdeath said and rose up from her chair."Let me know if there is anyone of the traitors that you would need my help with. I will keep an eye on the military and Budo."

"Certainly. By the way, I think it is about time that you paid a visit to the night raid member down in the dungeons. I would like to know what information she might have about the warden's network and allies."

Esdeath smiled at him. "Thanks for reminding me. I think I will go down and talk with her the next time I got some time to spare." She turned around to leave.

"One more thing, Esdeath."

She looked at him over her shoulder.

"Could you do me a favor and keep an close eye on your boy." he said and gave her a reproachful look. "He seem to be a bit more.. _capable_ than I first expected."

Esdeath felt her defensive instincts rise but quickly quelled them. She gave him a hard glance. "How I manage my subordinates is nothing that you need to worry about. And I don't want to hear complaints from you about how I handle my mate, considering how well you managed to handle your son."

"Do you want Tatsumi to meet the same fate as my son?"

She looked at him in a rather unfriendly way. She was considering if he was challenging her in some way but reminded herself about their strictly buisness oriented relationship. If he brought this up then he probably had his reasons. "Fine. I hear what you say. Leave Tatsumi to me and focus upon your own problems."

The prime minister sighed deeply when the doors had closed behind her. _Just as I suspected_, he thought,_ this is gonna be really tricky._

"Well, Tatsumi is starting to become my problem, as well." he said as he returned to his food.

* * *

"Thanks a lot for helping me out." Tatsumi said as he rose from the bed. Stroking his hands where the bindings had been.

"Don't mention it." The young maid was still carrying the knife that she had used to cut him free from the belt. "I just hope that Esdeath doesn't find out that it was I that did this."

"Don't worry about it. I will see to it that you are transferred to a diffrent part of the palace immediately." Normally the maids and attendants wouldn't dare to intervene with any of Esdeath's affairs or projects. This girl was a bit diffrent though. She had helped Tatsumi many times by stepping out of line and doing things she shouldn't be doing. Small favors in exchange for diffrent rewards from Tatsumi. Mostly money. "Your reward will be waiting for you at whatever your new workplace will be."

"Thank you."

"Now go work in some other rooms. It won't do well to be around when Esdeath returns."

She nodded and quickly scurried off. Hurrying out of Esdeath's chambers.

Tatumi watched her go. It was a little sad that he would lose one of his most useful attendants. She had been of much help in the past. But he dared not have her around anymore. Esdeath would want to know who had freed him and her hunting and tracking skills were almost as superhuman as her fighting prowess. If the maid stayed around, then chances were that Esdeath would figure out that it had been her sooner or later.

He walked over to one of their many drawers and started to put some clothes on. He needed to be quick now. He had a clear plan in his head.

He needed to find this anonymous source that had seen Bellany following him and silence it for good. And he needed to do so before Esdeath's agents found it. So he needed to figure out who it was. That would probably require some investigation but if he called upon all his informants and allies he could probably figure it out relatively fast.

After that, he needed to go to Esdeath. If he broke free and then came to her of his own free will, then that might actually lessen her annoyance at him breaking free. If he presented it right he might even play it off as proof of his loyalty.

First of all he needed to get Incursio back, though. So he needed to find Wave. And then convince him to not only hand over his teigu but he also wanted him to act as his fake alibi. He needed someone to assure Esdeath that he hadn't been up to anything suspicious after he broke free.

He didn't like the idea of involving Wave more into his plans but he didn't have much of a choice right now.

After he had dressed up in his civilian clothes, he walked out of their quarters and closed the doors behind him. Esdeath had not locked a single one of the doors. Fully confident in her bindings. As she shoud have been, he thought, I would not have been able to get out on my own. She just didn't expect help to come from outside.

A positive thing about the situation was that he didn't have to hide from anybody else since Esdeath was the only one who knew that he was supposed to be locked up inside her chambers. So he didn't need to hide from anybody else. At least not if he moved fast enough.

He knew that he didn't have to much time to finish his task now.

Esdeath would come hunting after him the moment she found him missing. And she would not be holding back this time.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**So... three days later than promised. Sorry about that. I have no idea of why this one took so much more time to get done. I already have the coming chapters planned out in my head but for some reason ****this one was a bit harder to write.**** I have been spending the same amount of time working on this story as I have before. **

**I do not plan on letting it affect my release schedule though. The next one should be released in five days.**

**As always, thanks for reading/following/favorite;ing and just being awesome in general. **

**I have to run now. Got places to be.**

**Have a great day and take care of each other.**


	9. The jester and the apex predator

**Remember to regularly save your work, kids.**

**Then you won't have to rewrite an entire chapter just because your internet connection fucks with you.**

* * *

**The jester and the apex predator.**

Tatsumi moved through the streets of one of the huge inner yards of the castle as fast as he could without drawing attention to himself. He had the hood of his brown coat over his head but he didn't want to run or jump around now. He needed to blend into the masses so he didn't dare to move any faster than a brisk walk.

He was heading over to the jaeger's quarters. The only person he really needed to avoid was Esdeath but he was a bit unsure of where she was at the moment. He knew that she had headed towards a meeting with the prime minister after locking him up but he had no idea of how long that meeting was gonna be. She had said that she would return to their chambers by dinner time but that didn't necessarily mean that she was gonna spend the entire day at the meeting. She might have had other plans for the day as well.

Not that it was that hard to notice her, when she was just walking around on official buisness. If you just payed mind to the way people were acting around you, then you could avoid her entirely if lucky. Since most people either were walking to look at her or trying to move away to avoid her. When she walked around in civilian areas it usually caused a small commotion like that, which one might get away in.

There was a risk that she would detect his presence even if she couldn't see him but as long as she thought that he was still locked up in her bed, she woudn't be looking for him. That would probably make it easier for Tatsumi. Even if he lacked Incursio for the moment.

That was also why he dared to venture directly towards the jaeger's quarters. Even if the probability that he would meet her increased more, the closer he got.

It was almost midday now. In best case scenario he had until dinner time before Esdeath would notice his escape. He wanted to be go to her himself before she started to catch up to him. He wanted it to seem like he had intended to go to her from the start. Not that it was his choice only after he started to notice that she might catch him. It needed to seem a proof of his loyalty to her. Not an act of submission after he had realized his defeat.

He needed Incursio and he needed to meet Wave as well. To convince him to be his alibi.

He reached the part of the palace he was heading for, forty minutes later. A military wing mainly dedicated to Esdeath's forces. He was a regular here so he didn't even need to identify himself to the guards. He simply removed his hood for a moment and they immediately recognized him. Letting him pass through without a single question. He smiled despite himself. Sometimes, it felt good that the imperial army that he had fought so hard now were forced to respect him.

He moved towards the jaeger's quarters. There was a lot commotion and movements in this part of the palace. The diffrent parts of the imperal army trying to cope with the loss of their archives in diffrent ways.

He was in a slightly calmer but still pretty occupied corridor when a voice called out to him from behind. He knew who that voice belonged to as soon as he heard it and immediately realized that he had forgot about one factor in all of this.

"Ahh, my favorite little assassin. How are you doing today?"

Tatsumi turned to see the ragged form of the general calmly walking towards him. His tired eyes filled with curiosity. "Or was it ex-assassin?"

"General Makeias!" Tatsumi saluted the man for is rank.

He had momentarily forgotten about the other people that had been sneaking around in the archives during his nightly visit. Had they been Makeias people as he had first suspected? And if that was the case, had they been able to notice him?

"How are you doing today?" Makeias said wih his usual smile." You seem a little bit.. **_tired_**."

_He knows, _Tatsumi thought. The question was how much he knew. Did he know that it had been him who set the building on fire?

"If you excuse me for saying so ,general, you yourself look like you haven't slept in days. As usual."

"Ohh, I know why my body is constantly strained. It is your reason that I'm interested in."

Tatsumi shrugged. "It's been a troublesome day,general. That's all. Thanks for asking."

Makeias gaze traveled down tatsumi's body. "I can't help but notice that you aren't carrying your teigu with you either."

"Not every teigu wielder carries their weapon with them all the time."

"True enough. But I don't see why you wouldn't carry Incursio around. Especially considering your position."

Tatsumi shrugged again."I am actually on my way to pick it up from the jaeger's quarters. What about you, general? Where are you heading?" he asked. His thoughts were moving rapidly in his head. Trying to figure out a way to verify how much the other man knew.

"I am actually on my way to fight your girlfriend. In a small sparring match."

Tatsumi smiled bitterly at the general."My girlfriend died a long time ago."

To Tatsumi, to be girlfriend and boyfriend required that you had some sort of balance in the relationship. Some sort of trust. If the morning had been any proof then Esdeath certainly didn't trust him.

He also knew that Esdeath didn't care much for such titles either. To her their relationship was something more animalistic and instinctive. He was her partner, her mate, her lover. Their relationship was not grounded in something as weak and uncertain as her hoping or trying to make him like her. She would shower him with affection and hope to get some back but if that didn't work, then it didn't change the basics of the situation. She had claimed him as her male and now he belonged to her. Anyone who tried to change that would regret it. Even Tatsumi himself.

Makeias gave him a questioning look.

"But you mean that you are going to fight my lover?"

"Yeeeaaah..." Makeias said slowly while studying Tatsumi's face. Trying to determine what the younger man meant with that distinction.

"I thought I told you that trying to defy Esdeath would only lead you to misery, sir." Tatsumi said while raising an eyebrow at the general.

"Don't you remember what I said about the things that kills us?" Makeias asked.

"I refuse to believe that you are the type of battle fanatic that lets the search for thrills dictate their decisions."

Makeias smile grew a bit wider."Your assumption is correct. But I have my own reasons. I do ,howerver ,get the feeling that I am about to face just that kind of fanatic. Which makes her actions rather easy to predict."

"Be careful, general. If you mistake Esdeath for being a simple minded creature, then it will come back to haunt you. Her mind is far from dull."

"I know." Makeias sighed. "My life would be far easier if she was nothing more than a violent brute."

Now it was Tatsumi's turn to try and decipher what the other man was insinuating.

"Either way, I would like to talk to you. About plans and flames. Seek me up when my little sparring match with you lover is over."

"Of course." Tatsumi answered. He relished the chance to talk Makeias without anyone around. _Especially if he had Incursio with him._ "I am a bit busy today though but i will seek you out as soon as I get some time over."

"Good. You don't want to delay our meeting for too long though, Tatsumi. Believe me." He patted the shorter man on the shoulder and walked of . Disappearing around a corner.

Tatsumi immediately started walking towards the jaeger's quarters again. Thinking about the situation. The good part was that it seemed that he still had some time now. Since Esdeath was heading to a sparring match with Makeias after her meeting. And it seemed like he could at least prioritize the silencing of the anonymous source for now. He would have to figure out how to deal with the genral later.

Why he had been in the barracks belonging to Esdeaths forces in the first place, though?

Half an hour later he had met Wave in his own room inside the jaeger's quarters. It was a small room without any windows but it was well furnished and tidy. A bit nicer than what a normal officer of the empire would recieve during duty.

Wave had been glad to see Tatsumi at first. Believing that this meant that he and Esdeath had worked things out. That enthusiasm quickly faded though. After five minutes, Tatsumi had explained the situation and what he wanted Wave to do. Omitting what he was actually buying time to get done.

"Are you trying to get me killed?" Wave whispered angrily. Suddenly trying to keep quiet even though they were the only ones in his room and the door was locked."You are well aware of how Esdeath handles disobedience."

"She ain't gonna be that hard on you,Wave. She actually thinks you are one of her better subordinates." Tatsumi whispered back. Uncertain of why they were keeping their voices so low.

"Yeah, but I am still her subordinate, not her partner,Tatsumi. I know that you could get away with just some smaller punishment for defying her. If anyone else of her subordinates disobeyed her orders she would make an example out of them. You know that there is no one she is harder on than traitors and deserters."

"Then simply say that I stole Incursio when you wasn't looking."

"Didn't you hear what she said. She even warned me for what would happen if I lost Incursio. She warned me. She almost never give warnings like that." Wave said. His whispering frantic and fearful.

Tatsumi could understand Wave's fear but he needed his teigu."I honestly don't believe she will be that hard on you if she believes that you have been doing your best." he whispered and scratched the back of his head. "But fine. How about this, you tell here that I lied to you and said that she sent me to get it since she no longer thought I killed Bellany."

"I don't know." Wave said. Still unsure. "She will already be angry that you have escaped."

Tatsumi decided that having Wave be his alibi as well would be too much to ask of him. He focused on getting back Incursio.

"After I leave with Incursio, you can go and tell her that you gave it to me. Tell her that you went to her just to make sure you did the right thing. And when it becomes apparent that she doesn't think that you did, then you can tell her where I have gone. Okay?"

If he could send Esdeath on a wild-goose chase out in the slums of the capital he would have more time to find the anonymous source.

Wave still seemed doubtful. Looking at Tatsumi with a concerned look.

"And you can tell her that I didn't want you to tell her where I was going. That ought to earn you some points. Don't you think?"

He put a hand on Wave's shoulder. "I need time to go and prove my innocence, Wave."

Wave sighed."Fine. I will do this favor for you. But I just know that this gonna come back and bite me."

He went over to a big cupboard that was standing on their right side and brought forth a key from one of his pockets. He unlocked it and lifted out Incursio from it. He threw the teigu back to Tatsumi who catched it with one hand.

"If this ends up with her mutilating or killing me then I will be blaming you for it." he said. Casting Tatsumi a sullen look.

Tatsumi looked at him for some moments. He was actually a little bit afraid of something like that happening to Wave. Not that he thought it would but he was still worried.

"Do you have any paper and ink around here Wave?"

"Yeah sure, why?"

"I will write a letter to her that you can use if the situation gets too bad."

* * *

Makeias flew backwards through the air. He stayed about two meter above the ground for almost four seconds before his upper back hit the arena floor. The force of the momentum made him topple over in an involunarily backflip-like movement. Landing on his feet.

As soon as both his feets were on the ground he crouched down slightly as his body slowly came to a halt. After two meters he had finally stopped entirely. He straightened up.

The roar from the crowds were deafining as they cheered for Esdeath's succesfull hit. The first of the match.

When the great general had heard about the match he had immediately ordered them both that they would hold their match in a properly isolated arena in the outskirts of the capital.

Six diffrent teigu wielders were standing around the outline of the arena floor and two regiments of the imperial guard were circulating the perimeter. The generals had both promised to not use their teigus in order to minimize the collateral damage. Both their teigu's were ,however, fused to their bodies so they could not disarm themselves. And the great general did not trust the other generals to not lose their cool once battle was joined.

Makeias wielded a long training staff that he used as a substitute for the long bladed halberd that was his usual weapon. Esdeath carried a slightly smaller training staff but she used it as if it were an insanely long sword. Wielding it with one hand as she usually did with her rapier.

Makeias looked up at huge crowds of people that had gathered in the arena's spectator gallery. The vast majority were cheering for Esdeath. Waving flags with her clan's sign on and roaring in encouragement whenever they thought she got the upper hand.

"You know," he called out, "this was not what I imagined when you said "a small sparring match"."

"I didn't invite them, if that is what you mean." Esdeath said with a smile. Looking both happy,calm and sinister at the same time. Slowly walking towards him.

"You seem to be the crowd favorite though."

"Everyone likes a winner."

"I think it has more to do with your looks to be honest."

She simply smiled at him in response.

Makeias took a deep breath. Assessing the damage. Three of his lower ribs had been broken but that seemed to be it. That was not too bad. This sort of damage wouldn't even slow him down.

He had been lucky though. If she had hit him the throat or face with the same attack the situation would have been much worse.

They had been slowly testing each others abilities for almost two minutes when he had chosen to take a risk. He knew that she had an extremly strong body. He had seen her mop the floor with all who dared to challenge her in any form of physical race or match during her first year in the military. But it was easy to see that her legs were the stronger part of her body. So if he could block her weapon and avoid her leg then he would be in the clear.

Or so he thought. When he had put his theory to the test it had all worked out as he wanted during the first moments of it. He had waited for her next attack and then blocked her training staff. Evaded the obvious follow-up kick and then he had gone in for a counter attack. Reaching out with his arm towards her throat. Thinking that the mayor threaths were avoided.

Ony to feel her fist connect with the lower part of his chest with a force stronger than what he himself could muster with his arms. Sending him flying through the air. He had misjudged the strenght in her slender arms. And it had cost him three ribs.

He took a deep breath and started to walk towards her again. Holding his staff horizontally behind his back.

"Have i misjudged you since the very beginning or have your body gotten even stronger during these last two years?"

She shrugged. "I guess it have. I am always trying to find ways to get better at fighting. My body has simply adapted to my will. That and the fact that it is constantly trained during battle."

Makeias smiled. "Training in real life battle,eh?! I can relate. Way too often that is the only type of training our ground troops get."

"It is a good way to cull away those that can't handle themselves." Esdeath said. Keeping her calm smile.

Makeias smile faded a little bit. The distance between them were growing very short now.

"Your fighting style is self thought isn't it?" he asked.

She nodded at him.

"Thought as much. That explains why I don't reco-"

He interrupted himself in the middle of his sentence. Launching himself forward in an attempt to catch her off guard. Reaching out with an arm toward her face. Bringing his staff around to block her when she tried to bring her own weapon up to smash him away. Just as his finger were about to connect with her face, she grabbed him around the wrist with her free hand.

She drew his body past her side and started to lift her leg to kick him while he was flying past her. Makeias did however notice this and brought the end of his staff down into the ground. Pushing himself higher up into the air before her kick could hit him. The push made his body spin around a couple of times before he landed on his feet. Directly going into a crouching position. The entire attack was over in the span of a second.

He had landed about a meter and a half away from her. They were both well within range of each others weapons. Both stayed entirely still. Watching each other,waiting for the other one to make a move. Due to the results of the last attack, Esdeath now had her side turned towards him. Her training weapon was in the hand at the other side of her body. It made all the diffrence in the world right now.

Those who were not used to observe fighting on this level didn't understand why both generals suddenly weren't moving a muscle, after those lightning fast movements just a moment ago.

But the teigu user who watched knew that this could be the conclusive moment. As luck would have it, Makeias had landed on Esdeaths more defenseless side. It was as good of an opening he could get and a warrior of general level could cause some serious damage if given a free hit.

The next move could be the last and it would all come down to speed.

"I should have guessed that you were the kind of warrior to use such cheap tricks." Esdeath said. Referring to how he had used her courtesy against her when he used a conversation to catch her slightly unaware.

"Esdeath, we have both been on the battlefield long enough to know that there are only two types of warriors. Those who survive.."" Makeias smiled a bitter smile, "..and those who don't."

Esdeath looked at him for a moment. Then she let her more bestial smile spread across her face. Baring her teeth at him. "Well said."

She started to move a step back but Makeias was ready. Immediately launching towards her. Bringing his staff around in a long arc so that she wouldn't get away. But the moment he launched himself forwards she changed direction. Kicking off the ground so that she sent herself flying towards him. She had no chance to bring around her weapon in time but neither did he, now that he had commited his arm to a longer swing. He suddenly remembered how much stronger she was than him.

_Feint!_, was the only thing he had time to think before she smashed into him with her elbow. He had brought his own arm up to block it and reduce the damage but the hit still lifted him off his feet. Sending him flying backwards once again.

But this time she followed him.

She jumped straight forward. Intending to attack him as soon as he landed if not before that. When Makeias saw that she was getting close he brought his staff down towards the ground in order to change the direction of his momentum once again. But this time Esdeath was ready for the trick and swatted away his staff when it got close to the ground. This did however put her in a position where he could easily direct a strong kick towards the side of her head. Which she easily blocked with an arm but the kick then served the same purpose as the staff would have done. Sending them both flying in diffrent direction. Both landed comfortably on their feet. Almost ten meters from each other.

For the exception of the three broken ribs, they were back at square one.

Makeias straightened a bit as Esdeath started walking towards him again. He didn't like his chances of winning this match. It had become clear to him that ,while he was a head taller than Esdeath, she was much stronger than him. Their speeds were a bit more evenly matched but she had the edge on him there as well.

He was used to facing off against opponents who were more proficient in battle than himself. His entire military career was based upon him defeating warriors superior to him. Using his wits and tricks to gain the upper hand. But this time would be tougher. Esdeath had superb instincts and they had no other tools than their training staffs. It was hard to gain the upper hand through tricks and wits when the scenario was so basic. If he could have used his teigu openly it would have been a diffrent story.

No, he would most likely not be able to win this match, Makeias concluded.

But that had never been his main purpose for accepting her challenge. This match could mean a lot more than a simple sparring match between two generals if he managed to do what he had come here to do.

If he could manage to touch her skin directly then he could infect her with his teigu. Even if it was only the slightest touch he would still be able to put a small infection into her. She would most likely notice that something was going on if he did but that didn't matter. She wouldn't be able to tell what he was doing specifically. She wouldn't be able to tell what he was going to hide in her body.

Even with her monstrous physique, his teigu would at least be able to slow her down a little when he choose to activate what he was gonna put inside of her. That could literally change the fate of the empire if he used it at the right time in the future.

He just needed to touch her skin for some moments. Just a second or two. Just a slight touch. _And then the empire would be his._

"You have been silent for a while, pillager." Esdeath said as she got closer to him."I hope you are not breaking down already. We have barely started."

Makeias smiled his usual sly smile."How would you break something that was never whole?" he asked and dashed towards her.

Kurome watched how the two generals jumped around each other from the sideline. She had been summoned as one of the teigu users that were stationed to watch over the duel in case something went wrong or out of control. While the crowd that had gathered was roaring and cheering in amazement, she could easily tell that both the generals were only testing the waters. Poking at each others defenses and abilities. None of them seemed to be willing to commit to anything yet. With the exception of the hit Makeias had received in his chest.

She had hoped that Wave would have been here as well but the young man was nowhere to be seen.

Now she had to deal with the advances from some of the other teigu users on her own. During this last year, Kurome had noticed that some of the men she worked with had started to look at her in a diffrent way. Some had even tried to flirt with her. Most of them stayed away when Wave was around though. She missed the young man which she had come to regard as her closest ally in the capital.

Ten minutes later, Makeias was panting heavily. He had to stay at the top of his game at all time. Otherwise Esdeath would capitalise on his momentary relapse. He was starting to realize just how big the gap in between them were. At least when it concerned physical strength. He had not been able to even grace her skin.

"Are you sure that damn teigu of yours haven't turned you into a demon?" he called out to her as she walked towards him. "Because you sure as hell doesn't seem to be human."

"Can't say that I care." Esdeath said with a smile. Holding her cap in place with a hand."You yourself seem to have quite the control of your own body. I felt your ribs break under my hand, yet you are still able to put pressure on your chest when you jump around."

He smiled and shrugged.

"By the way, pillager. I can't help but notice that you have been trying to touch my skin for a while now. I thought we agreed upon not using our teigus." she said as she steadily approached him. Keeping the cold smile.

"Believe me, Esdeath. You would know if I activated my teigu." he lied. He was certain that there were very few in the capital that actually knew about his teigu's abilities.

"Why then?"

"Well, what can I say.. You are a gorgeous woman. Can't blame a man for wanting to touch your beautiful skin."

Her smile grew wider. Not believing him for a second."Then lower your weapon and stay still. I will let you feel the skin of my knuckles against your face as many times as you like."

"Thanks for the offer but I am not that desperate yet.", he said with a smile. She jumped at him and they once again started to trade blows with each other.

Not much more for this then, Makeias thought as he jumped up a couple of meters into the air in order to avoid one of Esdeath's swings. If she was aware that he was trying to touch her then he was probably not gonna be able to do so. Not without risking taking some serious damage. Which he was he not willing to do when the outcome was so uncertain.

"Let's talk a little bit about your relationship with my partner, pillager." Esdeath said as she striked her training staff against his with both her hands. Forcing the other general back with her assault.

"Hmm?" Makeias gave her a questioning look before he swinged his own staff into her blocking one. He was unsure of how much Tatsumi had told her about their earlier meeting.

"You have been trading knowing glances with each other everytime you are in the same room. Why?" she said calmly.

"Sorry to tell you this ,Esdeath, but sometimes boys can be intrested in each other as well. Sorry if I have stolen your lovers intrest from you." He said as he ducked one of her swings.

Esdeath did not appreciate the joke. "You will stay away from Tatsumi. He belongs to me." She put further emphazises on her statement by striking at his staff with all her strength. Making Makeias stumble backwards.

"You might want to talk to him about that. When I met him earlier today he seemed to be happy with our relation."

Esdeath momentarily lowered her weapon. "You met him today?" she asked. Sounding suprised.

"Yeah. I met him when he was walking past one of your barracks. Right before I came over here."

Esdeath's eyes widened slightly."This not one of your jokes, is it?" She said in a hard voice.

"Is my humor really that bad? There was nothing funny about my last statement."

Esdeath looked at him for a moment and then decided that he was telling the truth.

"I had intended to play around with you for a much longer time but now it seems like my duties once again spoils my fun." she said.

"Do explain." Makeias said. Smiling.

"It's nothing that you need to know." She said in a grim voice. "General Makeias." she exclaimed loudly. "If you admit your defeat right here and now, then I will let you walk away with just this. You should considered yourself lucky."

Makeias thought for a moment. He had already given up on trying to get a part of his teigu inside of her in this duel. It was a pity but it was simply not possible now that she knew that he was up to something. So this was probably for the better. He had an small urge to keep Esdeath occupied for a little while. Since it seemed like she really needed to go and do something. But since he didn't know what he would be delaying it was no point to it.

He answered her in an equally loud voice. "I have enjoyed our little sparring match. It is a pity that you have to leave already. I accept my defeat." He said with a mocking smile. Bowing down in a ridiculing motion.

The gesture true intent was not lost on Esdeath but she let it slide. For now. Her duties took precedence over her own fun. She had planned to make the man properly submit to her, to make him hurt a lot. But now there was not much to do about it.

She turned around and walked off at a fast pace. A feeling she wasn't so used to feeling had started to build in her chest, worry.

The crowd was completly silent as they watched the very sudden, and to them, unsatisfying conclusion to the match. No one knew why Esdeath had chosen to leave already. The teigu users sighed a collective breath of relief as it became clear that the match was over. Makeias remained standing in place after he had straightened up. Watching how his opponent left.

Esdeath walked out of the arena. Heading straight for her chambers.

* * *

Tatsumi walked into the main post office of the military. The military postal system and message delivery had an entire wing of the palace dedicated to it. It was one of the biggest institutions in the capital that were only focused on administrative work. The person he was searching for was supposed to be here somewhere.

After he had gotten the teigu from Wave he had spent the day consulting some of his informants and allies. Finding the anonymous source had turned out to be harder than he had expected. No one seemed to know what had happened to Bellany. She had been seen leaving the military district the archives were located in just as the fire started to envelope the entire archive. Heading for the palace. But what had happened after that was a mystery.

Which didn't make the situation any easier since Tatsumi had no idea if she would suddenly turn up from nowhere with her accusations.

It had also been hard to even deduce who the anonymous informant might be. Bellany had a rather large network of fellow soldiers she worked with. It could pretty much have been any one of them. But he knew that whoever they were, they had probably been following him during the night, along with Bellany. So his best guess were that the anonymous source was one of the soldiers she had last been seen with.

And it seemed that she had been in this part of the palace during midnight ,yesterday ,when a soldier came running and fetched her.

He had gotten the name of the man that was the last person she was seen talking to before her soldiers came and got her. Which by coincidence was a man that he had buisness with outside of this situation.

The institution were pretty much in chaos. Losing the archives had been even harder on this organization than any other part of the military. Since all registers, addresses and troop positionings were lost. He walked up to the reception but it took almost twenty minutes before anyone came to help him.

After showing his jaeger insignia and talking to the personnel he managed to figure out where the person he was searching for was. He had apparently just returned from delivering messages for some ministers.

He was given direction of where to find him and walked away.

He found the man he was searching for sitting in what seemed to be a dining hall. He was sitting among friends at a table in the middle of the crowded hall. Even though it was the first time Tatsumi saw him, it was easy to see who he was since he was the only one in the room who fit the description he had been given.

He walked up to him and tapped him lightly on the shoulder."Military courier Isamu? Could I have a minute."

"Can't this wait? I'm having my break right now." he said and turned around.

The young man was rather tall. Even when he was sitting, Tatsumi could tell that he probably was two heads taller than him. He was very well trained and had alot of messy blonde hair falling down on his shoulders.

"Sorry. Jaeger buisness. Your lunch will have to wait." the entire table grew quiet at those words.

Only now did Isamu realize who he probably was talking to.

"Tatsumi, I would presume." he said and rose up from his seat.

Tatsumi nodded to him.

"Have you come here to try and intimidate me, jaeger?" he said in a rather unfriendly tone.

"I told you,didn't I? This is jaeger work. Come with me for a moment." Tatsumi said in a tired voice. He could already tell that this would be troublesome.

"Just saying that this is related to the jaegers doesn't really answer my question." the other man said and crossed his arms over his chest.

He got some encouraging mumbling from his friends who were sitting at the table. A big part of the military didn't like the jaegers. Partly because of the complete authority they had over most other parts of the military. They only had to answer to the top of the military. But mainly it was because of the teigus that all the members possessed. Most people regarded teigus as strange, unnatural and to some extent evil in their nature.

Tatsumi couldn't blame them. Even if it was a bit satisfying to see how the taller boys eyes were constantly slipping down to Incursio, which was strapped across Tatsumi's lower back.

He shighed."This is a murder investigation, Courier. Are you sure that you want to make this more difficult than it needs to be."

Isamu got a suprised look on his face."Who died?"

"Bellany. Main administrator over Esdeath's collected legions" He said and studied the other boys face."I have been told that you knew each other."

Isamu's blue eyes widened slightly."Yeah, we did. I talked with her yesterday."

"Come with me for a moment, I have some questions for you." Tatsumi said and gestured towards the door. Isamu hesitated for some moments but then nodded and walked out of the dining hall with Tatsumi.

* * *

Wave could feel how the sweat was making his shirt stick unto his back. He was standing outside of Esdeath's chambers. He hadn't dared to knock yet. He had given Tatsumi an hour before he had gone searching for Esdeath. After asking around a bit he learned that she had been seen quickly walking back towards her chambers after her sparring match with general Makeias.

He sighed deeply. His kindness had gotten the better of him again. He gathered his resolve and raised his hand.

He managed to knock two times on the doors before he heard a scream from inside the chambers. A shrill and feminine one. It lasted for less than two seconds before it fell silent so abruptly that it made the hair on his arms rise.

"General Esdeath" he called out. He waited for three seconds before he opened up one of the unlocked doors and ran into the room. He quickly looked around. He had never been inside her personal chambers before so he had no idea of where each one of the doors lead. But only one pair of doors were wide open and it was in the direction of the scream he had heard. He rushed through them and then through yet another room. Running in the general direction of the cry he had heard.

After some seconds he came into what looked like a bedroom. He halted himself in the doorway.

Esdeath was sitting on her knees in the middle of a huge bed on the other side of the room with her side to him. Her long hair falling down on the bed all around her. A chain and some handcuffs were laying in front of her. She didn't even give him a glance as he took a step into the room. She had a solemn expression on her face. She actually looked kind of sad. She was staring at a belt she was holding in in one of her hands.

"Why must you do these things to me, Tatsumi?" she silently said and opened her hand slightly. Letting the belt slip out of her hand and down on the bed. Wave could see that it had been cut open.

He took one more step into the room and was about to ask her if the scream had been hers. But when he took that step the origin of that scream came into his field of vision. He drew a sharp breath.

On the wall to the left of the doors he had entered through, a servant was nailed to the wall. A maid. She had an icecicle bigger than a baseball bat stuck into her mouth, through her head and into the wall behind her. Pinning the dead body to the wall. The huge piece of ice had been far too big for the little girl's mouth. Her jaws has dislodged from her skull, opening her mouth up to an horrifying width for her otherwise small head. Her cheeks had been torn open by the widening of her jaw. Revealing that most of her teeths had been smashed to splinters as well. A pool of blood was already forming around her dangling feet.

Wave clenched his teeth and forced down his urge to walk out of the room. _Damn you, Tatsumi._ He looked away from the body and took another step towards Esdeath.

Esdeath still didn't look at him. She was slightly hunched forward. Looking at the metal bindings lying in front of her. "Is there no binding I can put on you that will make you stay where I want you?"

"Commander?" he tried. Speaking so silent that it almost was a whisper.

She sighed."What do you want,Wave?" she said with an empty voice. Not looking at him.

"What happened ?" he asked.

"Tatsumi has run away from me. Again. Someone set him free." she said, her voice growing a bit harder. " Most likely one of the attendants."

"Was it the girl who is on the wall?"

"I don't know." she said ni an slightly irritated voice. "But it doesn't matter, there is about fifteen people that have free entrance into my chambers. They will all die for this. Unless one of them can provide proof that he or she was not involved in this."

"Esdeath." Wave said a bit louder. She looked at him for the first time since he had entered the room and he immediately remembered his position and manners."Excuse me for stepping a bit out of line general, but ain't that a bit extreme?"

"It's more than just them freeing Tatsumi, Wave. They are allowed to walk around freely in these chambers where I keep everything from state secrets to occasional teigus. They are trusted to not touch or meddle with anything that is not a part of their job. Now one of them has betrayed that trust. It is in these types of scenarios were you should statuate an example and not take any risks." she said. Sounding like she was casually teaching him a normal lesson in leadership.

She crawled out of the bed and stood up. "And the first job the new staff will have will be to gather and dispose of the remains of their predecessors. Should be a good lesson for them."

She started to walk over to one of the drawers in the room."Though I will not deny that the fact that one of them has momentarily bereft me of my mate will not be easing their passing." she said. Anger creeping into her cold expression.

She opened the drawer where Tatsumi kept his civilian clothes and started to look through them. Trying to deduce which ones were missing.

Wave decided that the longer he delayed telling her, the worse this would probably get.

"Commander." he said and walked up to her. Stopping when he was just a couple of steps in front of her."I met Tatsumi an hour ago."

Her eyes were on him immediately."Where?"

"The jaegers quarters, he came to meet me." he said. Steadily meeting her gaze.

Esdeath turned and took a step towards him. Now standing less than a meter away from him.

"And you gave him Incursio,didn't you?" ,her tone was calm and ice-cold. Holding promises of horrible things to come.

"He said that you two had resolved the problem and that you were going to let him walk around as he pleased again." he quickly said."He said that it was you who had sent him to retrieve it."

Wave had lied to his commander before but it still left him with a bitter aftertaste. But considering his alternatives, it was an easy choice.

"And you thought nothing more about it." she said in the same cold and ominous voice.

"No, commander. I didn't. I'm very sorry." he quickly bowed down as deeply as he could without his head bumping into her.

One of her hands came down and grabbed his chin. Her long and slender fingers grabbing an iron grip around his jaw. She tilted his head upwards so that she could look down on his face.

"Do you have any more excuses that you wish to say?"

Wave felt how fear started build up inside of him. It didn't seem like he had managed to avoid the punishment.

"I do, I do!" he said loudly."Or rather, I mean- not an excuse, I don't want to excuse my- I know that I made a mistake- I just thought" he started to franically stutter.

Esdeat slapped him across the face with the back of the hand that wasn't holding his jaw. The momentary pain and sharp sound stopped Wave's frantic talking.

"Calm down,Wave." Esdeath said in the same cold voice. Still keeping his head in an iron hold at about the same height as her chest. "Whatever fate awaits you won't get any better by you panicking."

Wave looked up at her for a moment and then took a deep breath. Strangly enough, the lingering pain on the side of his face actually made him a little bit calmer.

"I realize that I once again have made a grave mistake while in your service. However, I don't think the fallout of this mistake need to be that bad."

"Explain." Esdeath said. Giving him a chance to redeem himself.

"Tatsumi told me where he was going. He is heading out into the slums of the city. He said that he was gonna find a way to prove his innocence and then return to you."

"How?" A small tone of genuine curiosity sneaked it's way into her voice.

"I don't know. He said that he didn't want you to know where he was going. He told me to not tell you."

"And that didn't make you suspect anything?" she asked.

"No. Well, yes but he told me that you had chosen to trust him." Wave lied. "He asked me to give you this letter."

Coming to the end of his rope, Wave felt that it was time to use the sealed letter that Tatsumi had written for him. He reached down into his pocket and fished up the folded piece of paper and gave it to her.

She took it with her free hand opened the seal with a finger and read through the short message written on the paper in a sloppy handwriting that she would recognize anywhere. Still holding Wave's head in her other hand.

_**"I will return to you later tonight.**_

_**Don't blame Wave. I escaped you and I fooled him.**_

_**If you deform or kill him I will never forgive you."**_

She immediately turned her face to Wave again.

"Do you think that I am gonna kill you,Wave?" she asked with an empty voice.

His eyes widened slightly. "N-no.. of course not... are you?"

"Of course not." she echoed. "Don't be silly."

She did not like the last sentence in the message though. She didn't like that he was trying to coerce her into not doing something. A part of her almost wanted to smash Wave's face in just to show Tatsumi that he couldn't boss her around. Not that she would ever hurt one of her subordinates to satisfy such a selfish wish. Least of all Wave, who she considered to be one of her best. She had grown quite fond of the blue haired boy during the last years.

"I was considering punishing you for letting Incursio escape your grasp but the more I think about it the more unreasonable that seems. Considering this would never have happened if I didn't fail to restrain Tatsumi in the first place." She let go of his chin.

He straightened and rubbed his chin with one of his hands. "This is why I still respect you so much, Commander!" Wave said with a smile. Trying his best to ignore that there was a young girl hanging dead from the wall behind him. "And I really am sorry for letting Incursio escape me."

"It's okay Wave, Incursio belongs with Tatsumi. Just as he belongs with me. It was more the fact that you failed to do as I bid you than the fact that Incursio now is in Tatsumi's hands that annoyed me." She turned around to the drawer again. Starting to once again rummage through Tatsumi's clothes. "I actually didn't like it when the great general demanded that Tatsumi would not be allowed to have his teigu when he joined the jaegers again."

She brought one of Tatsumi's shirts up to her face and sniffed it. Trying to determine if it had been used. "Incursio is part of his strength and I want him to be as strong as he can possibly be."

"Yet the great general managed to get the support of the imperial court in that matter." Wave said. Remembering how strange those first months with Tatsumi had been.

"It was a reasonable request." Esdeath admitted. "And I will take whatever I can get when it comes to Tatsumi. Even if it just a little bit of what he could be."

"But in the end you managed to get Incursio back." Wave said with a smile.

"It took some negotiations. I had to do some small deals and call in some favours. But of course I got around it in the end. To Budo's dismay." Esdeath smiled a triumphant smile at the memory.

She closed the drawer. She had managed to figure out that Tatsumi was wearing his brown coat but that was it.

"You see Wave, when it comes to Tatsumi, my needs and desires only grow stronger and more aggressive if I am denied them." She walked over to her weapon, which was resting against the bedframe.

"It doesn't matter if it is the great general not letting me have his full strength or Tatsumi trying to keep his body away from me. If they deny me in this matter, then they challenge me. And I always crush my oppositions. One way or another."

She grabbed her weapon and started walking towards the door.

"I will not let Tatsumi run around on his own. I will show him that his freedom belongs to me as well."

She gestured for Wave to follow her. "Come Wave. You will help me find him. Before he does something stupid."

"Yes,general." he replied with gusto. He started to walk after her. He was however slowed down for some seconds when a very daring painting on one of the walls momentarily caught his attention. Turning his cheeks red.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**So yeah, as mentioned, I wrote about 80% of this chapter without saving and then lost everything due to temporarily losing my internet connection. That is why this has been delayed by ****four days****. Sorry about that.**

**A bit of transistional chapter. Building up for what's to come.**

**I am a bit unsatisfied with my current release schedule. I want these chapter to be ****released**** towards the end of the week. Not in the beginning of it. I will correct this by making the next chapter a little bit smaller so that I can get it done faster. So there will be two new chapters this week.**

**As always, thanks a lot for reading. The fact that you people read and follows this tory is the bigger part of why it is continuing. At least at this pace.**

**Have a great day and take care of each other.**


	10. Internal struggle 1

**A little shorter entry into the story this time.**

**The chapter is once again split in two in order to keep regularity in the size of the ****chapters in ****this story.**

* * *

**Internal struggle. (1/2)**

Tatsumi walked through the corridors of the institution belonging to the imperial postal service. Isamu walking beside him. To say that the atmosphere was tense would be an understatement.

After talking for a short while, Tatsumi had learned that Isamu personally knew the soldiers that claimed that they had been the last people to see Bellany the night prior. Tatsumi had then managed to persuade the other man to show him who these people were. He had begrudingly agreed to do so. He had walked off to send a message for some soldiers to meet up with Tatsumi at the entrance to the institution. To then lead him to the persons he was searching for.

Now they were walking over to the entrance of the institution together and not a single word had been spoken for five minutes.

Both of the young men knew why the mood between them was so cold. They still hadn't talked about Esdeath. Tatsumi was still trying to figure out a way to tell the other man to give up on his pursuit of the ice queen without seeming too confrontational. It was clear that the other man had no love for him. He didn't know if it was because he was a part of the jaegers or because the man viewed him as a rival. It could also be because of his history. He had no way to discern it and the more tired he got, the less he started to care.

"Listen, Isamu. I know that we have something we need to talk about. I think you do as well." Tatsumi said. Trying to sound relatively friendly.

"We certainly have some unfinished buisness, jaeger." Isamu said. His voice hard and irritated. Unwilling to show Tatsumi any reluctance or fear of confrontation.

Isamu had faced rivals in love before. He found that it was natural that those situations occured if everyone just followed their hearts as he did. It was something he fully accepted and he had found a certain level of respect for his rivals in the past. If for no other reason than the honesty of their intentions. The fact that he almost always came out on top made it a lot easier as well.

But this was diffrent. Tatsumi had never been pursuing or trying to get Esdeath. He had just been given her favor and affection without doing anything in order to obtain it. He even still refused her at times, if the rumors were true. He had not only had the amazing luck of getting the love of not only an extreme beauty but also one of the most powerful and influential women in the entire empire, if not **the** most powerful and influential one. And he had the audacity to just snub the thing that boys in the entire empire could just dream of.

To Isamu it was not just arrogant. It was outright disrespectful to the rest of them. If Tatsumi now was worried that he might actually lose that gigantic priveledge, then Isamu couldn't be anything but happy about it. And then there was also the fact that Tatsumi had been(and according to many, still was) a traitor. Both to the empire and then to the revolutionary army. He was the definition of a turncoat.

"Isamu, I have no ill will against you, believe me." Tatsumi said. Trying to be diplomatic."I am actually here to warn you."

"Is this about the murder investigation?" Isamu asked. If this was some warning related to the investigation then he wanted to be professional about it.

"No, this is about your visit to Esdeath the other day." Tatsumi said tiredly.

"I guessed as much." Isamu said with a smile."How did you learn about? Did the rumors reach you?"

Isamu had been very proud of his, what he thought to be , somewhat successfull attempt to court the ice queen. He had told almost all of his friends about it. Everyone who had said he was crazy to try it. And rumors had started to spread like wildfire. Much to Isamu's joy. Rumors that Tatsumi might have a contender.

Tatsumi himself had heard none of these rumors. He had been way to busy the last thirty four hours.

_I was laying comfortably in her bed when you made your foolish mistake, _Tatsumi thought. He didn't say it though. Unwilling to walk down that road right now. He was trying to help the delusional boy.

"Let's just say that I have heard about it."

"I bet you have." the other boy replied. Keeping his smirk.

"You are about to make a grave mistake, Isamu. You don't want the kind of attention that Esdeath is intending to give you."

"Just because you dislike it doesn't mean that the rest of us do."

"Have you seen her pets, Isamu?" Tatsumi asked. Still keeping a calm voice.

"No but I have heard of them." the other boy said. Raising an eyebrow at Tatsumi.

"A sad bunch. For the most part. And you know what? Some of them started out just like you. Go and watch what has become of some of them."

"Only the weak willed will let the failures of others dissuade them from following their hearts. Not that I think you can understand that, considering your history of changing convictions." the other man said. Putting some weight behind his last sentence.

"You have no idea what you are talking about." Tatsumi said. He was starting to question why he was trying to save this boy from his fate.

"Whatever. Did you honestly believe that I would stop my pursuit of general Esdeath's heart just because you would tell me so? Are you that naive?"

Tatsumi was starting to run out of patience. He was tired and had began to wonder why he was trying to stop Isamu when he clearly was so intent on trying. In a way he found it kind of admiring. Trying to achieve your dream even if you knew that it was most likely impossible. It reminded him of so many members of the revolutionary army. It was the feeling that Isamu didn't realize how futile his attempts were or how dire the consequences might be, that drove Tatsumi to give it a last try.

"Well,remember what i said anyway. Listen, I have better things to put my mind to. So I will just ask you, is there any way I can dissuade you from chasing after Esdeath?"

This was the chance that Isamu had been hoping for.

"Actually there might be one way."

Esdeath had told Isamu to impress her. She had told him that she was giving him another chance. As far as he was concerned, that meant that she had given him her permission to compete with Tatsumi. And he could think of no better way to impress her than showing how superior he was to Tatsumi. He had heard how much she valued strength in those around her.

"Let's handle this as men, Tatsumi. Let's have a fair fight and see who comes out on top. If you manage to beat me, then I shall do as you bid me and stop chasing after Esdeath's affection."

_Lovely, not just dim-witted but a brute as well_, Tatsumi thought. Looking at the other boy who was almost two heads taller than him.

"Fine, if that is the only way, then I don't mind." he said and shrugged.

"Of course without weapons. I hope you can agree that it would be rather unfair otherwise."Isamu said and nodded towards Incursio.

_But the fact that you probably weighs almost as twice as much as me wouldn't? _"Fine."

Isamu was very brawny and Tatsumi was pretty sure that he was a capable fighter as well. Most of the military couriers that delivered such important messages as Isamu needed to be rather proficient in combat. So that they could defend themselves and the messages they carried if necessary.

But Tatsumi could tell with a glance that Isamu had never been in a real life-threatening scenario. He had never stared death in the eyes. He knew little of what real pain was. Physically, emotionally or mentally. Tatsumi could beat his kind with one hand tied behind his back.

"Sure. When shall we do this. I'm kind of busy." he said and put his hands in his pockets.

"How about as soon as we meet the soldiers that are gonna take you to the last people who saw Bellany last night."

"Okay then. Let's go away to somewhere a bit more secluded before we do though. I have no desire to cause a commotion."

"Fair enough. The other soldiers will come with us then. So that they can act as witnesses."

"As you wish." Tatsumi said.

He couldn't say that he really minded giving Isamu a beating but he needed to be quick about it. It was almost dinner time now and Esdeath would soon notice that he was gone. Both of the youths kept walking towards the entrance of the institution in silence.

* * *

Tatsumi, Isamu and the five other soldiers that had originally come to meet up with them walked into an empty training hall in a wing of the palace that belonged to Esdeath's legions. There were many of these kind of smaller training halls in this part of the palace. Most of them were empty now though. Since it was around dinner time and most soldiers and warriors were either eating or on duty.

"Are you sure about this?" The officer of the little group that had come to meet them asked Tatsumi. Looking concerned. He was a bulky man ni his late forties. He had greying hair and a big mustach. "Please don't take me wrong,sir, but I think we could get in real trouble for letting you two do this."

All the five soldiers that had come to pick Tatsumi up seemed to be a part of one of the gun squadrons from Esdeath's legions. He could not only see it on the uniforms but the officer actually carried a rifle over his back.

"Don't worry about it. Esdeath won't hear about it." Tatsumi said. Untroubled by the situation. He just wanted to get this over with.

"Yeah, at least not about your part in it." Isamu filled in. He seemed really confident.

"I will trust in both of you then." the officer said. Still looking rather anxious.

They walked until they were in the middle of the small hall. Then Tatsumi turned around to Isamu.

"Well then, shall we begin?" he asked as he stretched his arms over his head.

"Not so fast. I think you can understand that I can't trust that you will not use the teigu if things don't go your way." He pointed at the officer."Give him your teigu while we battle."

The officer took a step backwards. "I would rather not get involved anymore than necessary in this." he said in scared voice. Holding up his hands in front of him.

Tatsumi sighed."No need to be alarmed, officer. This will be over quickly." He reached over and grabbed Incursio. He held it out to the officer. "Just stay where I can see you, okay?"

The officer nodded."I will try to stay in your field of vision as much as possible, sir." he said and carefully reached out and took Incursio. He held it completly still some moments after Tatsumi had let go of it. Seemingly afraid of the teigu itself. Then he slowly started to walk a couple of steps back with it.

When he put his foot down at the fifth step, he took a stance and threw Incursio to the other side of the hall. The moment he did, the other four soldiers who were standing around Tatsumi immediately attacked him.

The two soldiers that were standing right in front of him suddenly directed one punch each towards him. Aimed at his throat and chest. Tatsumi's body reacted faster than his thoughts. He immediately ducked down. Avoiding their blows. He put one hand on the floor and then kicked both of the soldiers in their stomachs with both his legs at the same time. Making them fall over backwards from the impacts.

When he put his feet down on the ground again, one of the soldiers behind him threw himself on him. Holding an arm around his neck. Trying to put him in a stranglehold. He swinged around fast. Making the other man swing around behind him. Since he maintained his grip around Tatsumi's throat. Tatsumi turned around towards the last standing soldier and grabbed the arm around his throat. Preparing to throw the soldier on his back into his comrade who had been standing behind Tatsumi.

But as he turned around he saw how the last soldier was throwing something against him. He brought out his hand to block it but it flew in between his fingers. For the second time in twenty four hours, Tatsumi felt how he inhaled paralyzing powder.

The arm around his neck immediately let go. "You idiot! You got some on my face as well." the soldier behind Tatsumi yelled. Stumbling backwards and falling over. Already losing his balance.

It was the same weaponized powder that Bellany had used on him in the archives but it was much worse this time around for Tatsumi. Partly because he had inhaled much more this time but mainly because he didn't have Incursio on. The last time, the teigu's defensive powers had made him able to resist the poison's effect but now he had no such luck.

He immediately turned towards where his teigu was lying. Starting to move as fast as he could towards it but he fell over on one knee after four steps. He brought a fist down into the ground in order to steady himself. He was already losing his balance. He started to stand up more slowly. Trying to get closer to Incusio.

He only managed to get up on his feet before Isamu kicked him in the side. Sending him tumbling over. He came to a halt two meters away. Lying on his stomach.

"I would like to say that this is nothing personal but it kind of is." Isamu said. His smile almost apologetic. "You see, these five men are my friends and they have all lost family members to night raid and the revolutionary army."

Tatsumi tried to rise up on shaky arms but Isamu made a stomping kick on his upper back. Smashing Tatsumi into the floor again. He looked over at Incursio. It was more than ten meters away.

"That is why they, just as Bellany, could see through your act." Isamu said. "You see, they didn't come here to bring you to the last people in the military who saw Bellany, they **are** the last people in the military who saw Bellany."

Behind Tatsumi, the two soldiers that he had kicked had gotten up. One was helping the man who had inhaled the powder, along with the one who had thrown it. The soldier they were starting to straighten up had already passed out. The officer and the other man Tatsumi had kicked were walking over to where he was laying.

"You bastard." the man he had kicked said. Holding a hand over his stomach."We know that it was you who set fire to the archives. We saw how you moved into the district right before it started to burn. And we know that Bellany followed you. And she never returned." he almost screamed the last words and kicked Tatsumi in the side. Tatsumi couldn't even feel it anymore. His body mostly numb by now.

The officer turned around to the other three soldiers. "Just put him in a comfortable position." he shouted at them as they tried to get their comrade into a sitting position. " He won't be able to move for quite a while. One of you go out and act as a lookout."

Isamu crouched down in front of Tatsumi."You see Tatsumi, I intended for this to happen before you even gave me a chance to challenge you to a duel. I never thought that you deserved a fair fight. This does ,however ,serve two purposes. Now my friends here can give you a little bit of what you deserve and then I can demonstrate my superiority over you to Esdeath."

Tatsumi turned his head to look at him. No longer able to move his arms very well. He could feel his conscious starting to fade.

"I sent her a message as well when I was informing these guys about the situation." he said and nodded towards the soldiers. "Informing her that you and I would be dueling somewhere in this barrack. I would guess that she will be here in about an hour. She was seen traveling towards one of the slums in the outskirts of the capital. So it will take her a while to get here once she receives the message."

Isamu rose up."By then these guys will have given you a taste of what you deserve and I will have returned here. Just in time for her to come and find you defeated at my feet. With theses soldiers as my witnesses that it was a fair fight that you yourself initiated.

Tatsumi rose his head a little bit from the ground. "You fool!" he tried to shout but it only came out as a whisper.

Isamu walked past the officer and headed towards the door out."Remember to not hurt him too badly. We don't want it to look like I went too much overboard."

"Relax. We don't want him to die here either." the older man said while he slowly loaded his firearm. Putting a barrel into it's pipe. "We want his treachery to be exposed to the rest of the empire. So that he then can face his fate in the torture chambers. Hopefully by general Esdeath's own hands."

Isamu nodded to the man."Good. See you in an hour then." He turned around and walked out of the training hall.

Tatsumi's mind was getting foggy. He had almost lost all control of his body. He could barely move his fingers. When the three other men started kicking and stomping on him he could barely notice it. When one of them grounded the fingers of his left hand under their boot, he didn't even feel how his nails were splintered and forced into his flesh.

After ten minutes of violent kicking, they paused.

The officer brought forth his gun.

"Whoa,whoa,whoa. We can't shoot him. The general will realize something is amiss if he has a bullet wound on him." one of the two soldiers cried out.

"I have to! You don't understand." the officer said with a shaky voice. "They shot my daughter. One of those night raid bastards killed her with one of their damn teigus. They didn't even leave a body for me to bury."

One of the two soldiers put an hand on the officer's shoulder as they started to shake. Looking at his superior with pity.

"I need to return some of this pain to them." the officer said as his eyes started to water. "She had just been permitted to join the special forces. She was just a teenager."

The other soldier put his hand on the officer's shoulder as well. Trying to show his support."Fine. If it is so important for you. We can get away with it looking like a normal wound if the shot only graces him slightly. Are you okay with that?"

The officer nodded. Holding back his tears of rage.

Tatsumi himself had now lost conscious completly. Drifting away into a drugged, dreamless sleep.

The soldiers discussed it for some moments and then decided that they would fire a shot along the side of his head. So that the wound would be partly hidden under his hair. That would make it harder to see any sort of soot or remnants of gunpowder. The officer put the gun against the side of Tatsumi's head. His hand sure and steady from years of training.

He took a deep breath and put his finger on the trigger. He was about to fire when he heard how the door to the hall opened behind him. Slowly and silently.

He heard how his two subordinates gasped in unison. He turned around to see what was going on.

In the middle of the now open doorway stood Esdeath. Holding a hand on one of the doors. Staring at them. Her figure and long hair filling the frame of the door.

She looked slightly shocked. Her expression was completly neutral with the exception of her widened eyes. They quickly moved to Incursio. Which was lying on the floor a couple of meters from them. Then they returned to the three soldiers who were standing around Tatsumi. One of them pointing a gun at his head.

The room was completly silent for three seconds.

Then she started to walk towards them. Her eyes locked upon the officer with the rifle. Ready to call upon her teigu's power if the finger on the trigger moved the slightest.

None of the three soldier moved. All stared at the approaching general.

The officer thoughts moved with lightning speed. Between the three of them, he was the one who had been in Esdeath's service for the longest time. His thoughts traveled to his memories of her campaigns in the north. Then to what had happened after those battles and then his thoughts traveled to what he had seen down in the torture chambers.

He took a decision. He lifted his gun from Tatsumi. He put the pipe of his weapon under his chin and fired.

The silence was broken by the gunshot and then the screams of the now dead officer's subordinates. They got a small shower of blood and brain matter as the back of the officers head erupted with the blast. Right in front of them. The two men both reacted in diffrent ways.

"You damn idiot!" the braver one of the two screamed and bolted for the door. He did not get halway there before a long and thin piece of ice pierced his ankle. Appearing right in front of him. The ice drove through his leg and then into the floor. Pinning the soldier there, who immediately fell over.

The other soldier whimpered in despair and fell down on his knees at the sight of his dead superior. The body of the officer lying less than a meter in front of him. He knew why the man had shoot himself. He knew what he had tried to escape from. He knew since he himself had worked as an assistant in the torture chamber for two years. One single thought came into his mind: _I must not let her take me alive._

He reached over and tried to grab the rifle that now lay beside the dead officer's body. But as soon as he grabbed it, a piece of ice flew into the weapon. Smashing it to splinters. The soldier screamed a shrill scream and crawled away from Esdeath as fast as he could.

Esdeath herself were completly unfazed by all of this. When the officer had put his gun under his chin she had figured what was going to happen and her eyes had shifted to Tatsumi and had stayed on him since then. _His chest was way too still._

"Tatsumi!" she called out in a gentle voice as she crouched down beside him. She turned him around and lifted his upper body a bit. Leaning it against one of her knees. His eyes was closed and he didn't respond.

Her arm that was not holding the back of his neck immediately snaked it's way in under his shirt. She put her hand on his chest. She could feel that he was still alive. But his heartbeats were horribly slow. And his breathing was extremly weak.

_He is fading away!_, Esdeath thought. She bared her teeth. A rage-filled expression forming on her face. _I will not allow this to happen!_

Her hands quickly and deftly started to explore his entire body. Slithering around under his shirt and then into his pants and briefs. Applying light pressure all the time. Trying to find the wound that was killing him. After less than ten seconds, she had examined his entire body. She couldn't find any life-threatening wounds or signs of internal bleeding. She looked at him. Her mind raced in ice cold analysis. She got a premonition.

She put a hand on his chin and opened his mouth. She placed her nose against it and took a deep sniff. Drawing his breath into her. It was mostly just the usual smell of his metabolism. A smell that she knew very well. But there was something else there as well. A small tinge of something unnatural. Something more chemically smelling.

_Poison!_, she concluded. She looked at Incursio. If she could get Tatsumi to activate it then it would help him handle the poison. But she had no way of making that happen.

She shifted her gaze to the one soldiers that had now crawled up into one of the corners of the room. She let all her all her murderous intent, anger and rage flow out of her. Filling the room with the force of it. Making the soldier shake and cry.

"What have you put in him?" she asked in her most authoritive and angry voice.

"NO!NO!" was the only thing the soldier screamed in response. Pushing himself into the wall as he tried to get further away from her.

"IT'S JUST SOME PARALYZING POWDER" the other soldier screamed in panic. Holding the one of his legs that was nailed to the floor. "HE WILL GET THE CONTROL OF HIS BODY BACK IN A DAY OR TWO!"

Esdeath's gaze turned to him. He immediately lowered his voice. "We didn't plan to kill him. I swear."

"Do you honestly want me to believe that?"

"He was the one who killed Bellany!"

"Do you have any proof?" Esdeath asked as her gaze drilled into him. Holding Tatsumi's limp form close to her body with one of her arms.

The soldier didn't answer. Grimacing as he looked down at his damaged leg. The other soldier's sobbing was the only thing that could be heard. He was still laying in the corner of the hall. "She must not take us alive." he sobbed over and over again. He had peed himself.

Esdeath rose with Tatsumi in her arms."Even if you would have had proof, it would not have been your place to decide his punishment. Nor administer it. You have broken miliatry law. Your insubordination has cost you all the forebearance that being part of my forces would have given you."

She turned around and started to walk out of the room. Carrying Tatsumi in her arms.

"Please be reasonable general!" the soldier with the icicle through his leg screamed when she walked past him. "Don't kill us without letting us tell you what we know."

"You will be telling me everything you know." Esdeath said in a cold voice as she walked towards the door. Not even giving the soldier a glance. Her eyes were looking at the boy in her arms with compassionate concern. "And when I am done with you, you will be begging for me to kill you."

She walked out of the door. Outside laid the unconcious soldier that had been posted as a lookout. She kicked him into the training hall. She then looked at the soldier with the damaged leg one last time.

"I will be taking my time with your punishments." she said. Her face filled with controlled fury. Pillars of ice rose from the floor and sealed of the only way out of the training hall. Before the soldier had time to respond.

Esdeath immediately turned around and leaped away through the corridor at lightning speed. Heading for the closest medical clinic with Tatsumi in her arms.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**20 hours later than promised. I am slowly catching up to my deadlines. Haha.**

**Anyway, my plan to correct my release schedule have worked after a fashion. While I did not release two chapters last week, I was done with this one very early in this week. So hopefully I will be able to release two chapters this week. And then I will have turned it around so that I release chapters by the end of the weeks instead of the beginning of them.**

**This story is going to pick up the pace a bit in the coming chapters. **

**As always, thanks for reading. I hope you have enjoyed the ride so far. I sure have. And that is mostly due to you following/favoriting and reviewing/commenting. Thanks a lot. **

**Take care of each other and have a great day.**


	11. Internal struggle 2

**Badaboom! **

**The release schedule is back to normal.**

* * *

**Internal struggle.(2/2)**

A group of people sat huddled around a fire in the middle of the night. Surrounded by forest and wilderness. They were mostly naked. One or two of them had a pelt or some fur over their backs but that was it. They communicated silently through words and sounds. A few of them were sleeping. Most were awake and watching the surroundings with scared faces.

As the night grew late they started to become less and less attentive and soon enough more than half of them were sleeping. And the other half were mostly just staring into the fire. That was when the predator choose to strike.

She flew right into the midst of them. Grabbing one head in each hand and forcing them into the fire as she landed. Screams and panic filled the group as the lean and naked body of the woman straightened up from the two bodies. Her long blue hair swaying in the wind. One young man tried to attack her from behind with a piece of wood but she turned around in the last second. Driving an elbow into his face. Crushing and dislodging his jaw as the hit sent him flying a couple of meter through the air.

And then everyone was running. Scattering away into the night in diffrent directions. Esdese looked down at the dead people that were lying on the ground and then at those that were running away. She only needed one body. She picked the one she wanted and dashed away towards the one of the fleeing people she had decided upon.

As the sun was rising, Esdeath could be seen climbing a gargantuan tree. Jumping between branches while holding a broken body under one of her arms. When she was a couple of hundred meters from the ground she arrived at what she was heading for. A hole carved into the gigantic tree trunk. Her nest. She climbed into it.

She directly moved to a corner of the den. A pile of branches and leafes were lying on the floor. She moved up to it and dumped the dead body besides it. She then kneeled down and started to remove some of the branches. Slowly revealing a weak, damaged and naked Tatsumi. Hidden under the foliage. His eyes were closed. He barely had the strength to move.

He had a great wound in his side. Covered in herbs and leafs. Aiding the healing process. She went down and sniffed the wound a couple of times. Trying to detect any form of infection. She gently put her hand against the wound. Making Tatsumi whimper slightly. She went up and licked his face lightly in a reassuring motion. She then moved over and grabbed the body lying on the side of the foliage she was sitting on.

She grabbed the arm of the dead body and lifted it towards her. Then she leaned in and took a bite from the flesh on the arm. Tearing through skin,flesh and sinew with her teeth. Tearing it away from the arm. She chewed down on the contents of her mouth for some moments while looking at Tatsumi. She then bent down over him and put her mouth over his. Feeding him the minced meat in her mouth. A slight trail of blood escaped their exchange and trailed down his cheek.

Tatsumi barely had the strength to open his eyes. He could do little but accept whatever it was that he was being fed. Esdeath kept her mouth over his own until he swallowed her gift. She lifted her lips from his and licked up the blood on his cheek. She looked at him for some moments until his mouth opened slightly again. Attesting that it now was empty.

She then reached over and took another bite from the body she was still holding in her right hand. This process was repeated for a couple of minutes.

When Esdeath put her mouth over Tatsumi's for the fourteenth time, he moved his head to the side. She raised her head up a little and looked at him. Then she moved her mouth to his again. Following it to the side. But when she started to push their lips together, he moved his head to the other side. Resisting her attempt to feed him.

She raised herself up from him. She looked at him for some moments and then swallowed the contents of her mouth. Deciding that he was fed enough. She grabbed the body and dragged it towards the opening of the den. Intending to throw it out now that it had served it's purpose to her.

Tatsumi used all the strength he had and opened his eyes. Watching how Esdeath dragged the dead body behind her. Holding it by an arm that had most of it's flesh torn from it. Tatsumi eyes widened as he realized what Esdeath had made him feast on.

Mine's dead body.

...

Tatsumi woke from his dream with a sharp breath. Opening his eyes as fast as he could. Which was suprisingly slow. His entire body still feeling dull and weak. That was the first thing he noticed. He still had a really hard time to move. His body still partly numb.

The second thing was how bright it was. His eyes squinted as they adapted to the light. The third thing he noticed was that his head was lying down on something warm.

When his eyes adapted he saw a long,slender and naked leg in front of him. His head was resting against it's thigh. He knew who's leg it was. Considering where he was it was even easier to guess.

Tatsumi was lying down in fetal position under some covers in Esdeath's large bed. Only wearing his briefs. It was the middle of the day and light was streaming in through the windows.

Tatsumi's head was resting on Esdeath's thigh. She was sitting up with her back against the bed's headboard. She had a quilt wrapped over her shoulders but wore no other cloths.

There were folders and papers strewn around her on the bed. Diffrent orders and reports that she was working her way through. She was reading through a battle report at the moment. Holding it in her hand and having a pen in her other one. Not yet noticing that Tatsumi had regained his conscious since his head was turned away from her.

Tatsumi tried to reach out with one of his arms from under the covers. Trying to put it on the bed so that he could raise himself up. He quickly noticed how hard that was to do. His body felt so heavy that it took a lot of effort to just get his hand outside the sheets.

As soon as his hand came out from the sheets one of Esdeath's came down and grabbed it. Forcing it back in under the sheets. She shushed at him in a silent voice as her hand tucked his arm back into the covers. Not looking away from the paper she was reading.

He had started to move around a lot during the last twenty hours, as his body started to get the poison out of him. Even if his mind hadn't gotten out from the deep fog that the drug had placed on his mind. The medics had analyzed the paralyizing poison that Tatsumi had gotten into his system and decided that it was not life-threatening. They had then concluded that it was best to let his body rinse out the poison on it's own. Even if it might take a while.

So he had been resting in Esdeath's bed while his body fought against the poison. The medics had come by and done daily checkups on him to see that everything was going well. Carefully examining him. Their every move followed closely by Esdeath's watchful gaze.

But as he became better he had began to move around more. Even if he was still unconscious. When Esdeath had returned from a meeting the day prior, she had found him lying on the floor beside the bed. Sweating and tangled up in the sheets. So since then she had moved as much of her work as possible to the bed. So that she could watch over him so he didn't hurt himself in his drug induced "sleep".

After her hand had returned his arm to it's original resting place it moved up and started to slowly stroke his head. "Shhh" she cooed while she continued to read through the report she was holding in her hand.

"Esdeath." he tried to say but it came out weaker than he intended.

She looked down on him. He had murmured a lot during the three hours she had been sitting in the bed but that sounded a bit more focused.

With a lot of effort, Tatsumi managed to turn his head slightly and look up at her with one eye.

Her eyes widened slightly. A warm smile formed upon her face. "Hey there." she said with a silent and happy voice as she was looking down on him.

She put the report down on the bed and carefully lifted Tatsumi's head from her thigh as she shuffled down a bit, in under the covers. So that she was lying beside him. She looked deep into his eyes.

Ohh, how she had missed those beautiful green orbs. "How are you feeling?" she asked as she moved closer to him. Cupping his face with one hand as she intertwined their legs.

"Heavy." Tatsumi answered truthfully. "Heavy and slow. Both in the head and the body."

"My sweet little thing." she said as she moved even closer. Their noses were almost touching. He could feel her breath against his face as she murmured. "It's okay, Tatsumi. It's going to be fine. Your body is just recovering from the poison."

Tatsumi started to remember what had happened. He remebered how he had passed out soon after Isamu had left the training hall. What had happened? Had the soldiers managed to convince Esdeath of his guilt? Had Isamu actually managed to fool her that it had all been a duel? Tatsumi tried to reason around it but his head was just too slow and dull. It was an effort just to keep a concise thought.

"How long have I been out?" he asked weakly as Esdeath stared into his eyes from a close distance. Seemingly fascinated by seeing them again.

"Five days now."

Tatsumi's eyes widened slightly but that was the only reaction that got through his sluggish body.

"The doctors could have gotten your conscious back earlier with diffrent antidotes but this was apparently healthier. So I have waited for you.". She looked happy and almost content as she slowly stroked the side of his head.

Tatsumi felt confused. His mind moving much slower than usual.

"What happened?"

"When I found that you had escaped I hunted after you. I was following your track when I got a letter from someone anonymous that claimed that he would be fighting you in one of my army's training halls and asked me to come and watch."

Her arms reached around him and pressed their bodies together.

"When I arrived, I found that some soldiers from one of my own gun squadrons had poisoned you and was beating your unconscious body. It seemed like they were trying to kill you. Believing that you had killed Bellany."

"What happened?" Tatsumi repeated his previous question again.

"You don't have to worry about them anymore." she said in a caring and reassuring way while she snuggled against the side of his face. The caring tone at odds with the horrible insinuations. "I have dealt with all five of them personally"

_Five of_ them,Tatsumi thought. Still able to figure out what that meant. Despite his drugged state._ She only said "people from one of her gun squadrons". Then that means that Isamu is still out there somewhere._

"They were fully convinced that you had killed Bellany." she said as she put her face in front of his again. "But Bellany returned four days ago. She had apparently just fallen really sick during a nightly visit to a friend and had been unable to get home or alert anyone of the reasons for her absence."

"What?" Tatsumi said slowly. He did not understand. If Bellany had returned then his guilt should have almost been confirmed, right? Not of killing her ,of course ,but the fact that he had burned the archives should have been revealed by now.

"Bellany immediately made it clear that she didn't know any of the five soldiers that had poisoned you and that she had not even seen you during the night they claimed that she had been following you. It seems like the men from the gun squadron only wanted to frame you for something you hadn't done."

Tatsumi was very confused. He was sure that the five soldiers that Isamu had called over was Bellany's closest men. So why had she betrayed them? Even if she knew that Esdeath might kill them anyway she would still have tried to strengthen their case against him. Bellany had always been loyal to her allies.

But now she had completly abandoned them and not only that. She hadn't even talked about her and Tatsumi's fight in the archives. Tatsumi couldn't make sense of it. He tried to think harder about it but his head started to hurt when he did. He slowly reached up with a hand to grab his hurting head but when his left hand touched the side of his head he noticed that the hand was wrapped up in bandages.

He looked at his bandaged hand with a confused look. Esdeath very gently grabbed it in one of her own. "They damaged your adorable fingers pretty badly." she said and looked at his hand with a sad expression. "But don't worry. It will have healed soon enough, as well."

She looked up at him. A smile spreading across her face. "Do you want to know what I did to them for that?" she said in slightly more excited voice. A certain gleam filling her eyes. Trying to cheer him up in the same way she cheered herself up.

Tatsumi just looked at her in respons. Normally he would have declined.

In the beginning of their strange relationship, Tatsumi had thought that watching how Esdeath tortured the people he hated would be gratifying but he had quickly learned otherwise. Cause Esdeath didn't have the same limits as he had. She continued on with her punishments, horrible experiments and terrible games long after he had witnessed more amounts of suffering and misery than he could stomach. Turning what he thought would be sweet revenge into a bitter and sickening experience.

But this time he needed to listen. He needed to know if any of those that knew the truth were still able to talk. So he stayed silent as Esdeath proudly explained what she had done to them. In the end, it seemed like his worries were unnecessary. Esdeath herself had silenced those who had known the truth.

The man who had also gotten paralyzed by the powder was the one that had taken the most precision. Since she had found him paralyzed she had decided that it would be a fitting state for him to continue his existence in. So through extremly precise hits to his spine, she had bereft him of the ability to move his body. Turning him into a paralytic for the rest of his life. She had then destroyed his eyes and ears. Leaving him unable to move, hear or scream. Then she had covered his entire body with deep cuts and then covered those cuts in diffrent kinds of poisons. Making sure that his wounds would always hurt him and never fully heal.

After that she had left him with a medical team ordered to keep him alive for as long as possible but not permitted to use any anesthetics. He would grow to become old and withered but all he would ever know was pain. Unable to even scream.

That had been more experimental then her usual torture sessions. A symbolic repayment for momentarily paralyzing Tatsumi. The man who had gotten an icicle through his foot had been a simpler process. She wanted him to be an example so she made that into a more flashy demise.

She had simply amputated his hands and feet as efficently and medically as she could. Ensuring that he would survive. She had then put him in a cell and starved him until she became unsure if he would survive any longer. Then she had brought down some of the better chefs that the palace could offer and told them to make the best stew they could for the prisoner. Based on his hands and feet.

She had then brought him to a public display and made sure that everyone in the audience knew why he was there and what the stew actually was made from. Then she fed the unknowing man his own flesh in front of the audience with an amused expression on her face. Watching with delight as the hardened audience was stricken with disgust and revulsion as the starved man slobbered down the stew she was slowly giving to him. Since he himself lacked hands.

She had only told him what the stew was several hours later. When it was far too late to try and regurgitate it back up. That had been a punishment for breaking Tatsumi's nails and fingers. Finally, she had torn out his lying tongue and attached small wooden feets to his arms and legs. After that she had given him to the kennel master of the noblemens hunting parties. Giving him an official order to keep and treat the man as another one of the dogs. So that the noblemen would have to see him each time they would go out hunting.

She had reasoned that that would be a sufficient signal that they should stay away from Tatsumi. She had also found it amusing that the man had been forced into the lowest rang of the hierarchy among the dogs.

She had intended to extract some symbolic punishment for framing Tatsumi on the soldier that had screamed and soiled himself but he had actually slit his wrists on some of the broken gun parts right after she left the training hall with Tatsumi.

The lookout had done nothing but watch for her arrival. So she made him watch closely as she punished his friends. When it finally became his turn he had already fallen into a shock-induced coma. Not reacting to anything in the slightest. Making Esdeath lose interest quickly. She simply had him crucified on the road in towards the capital.

When she had explained everything about their punishments and her methods to Tatsumi she looked at him. Trying to see if that had managed to cheer him up a bit.

Tatsumi mainly felt relief. It seemed like he was in the clear again. He just needed to figure out what had happened to Bellany. Esdeath herself had saved him the trouble of silencing the anonymous source herself. Destroying their chance to reveal Tatsumi's true colors along with their lives. He couldn't help but chuckle bitterly at the irony of that horrible situation.

Esdeath's expression grew even happier. Thinking that she had managed to make her boy happy.

She leaned in and started to kiss him. Slowly forcing her tongue into his mouth. Pressing their bodies together again.

Tatsumi could tell that she wanted more from him than just hugs and kisses right now. She was being unusually gentle and tender with him for the moment but he was able to detect the signs. Even though it was passive, her arms were applying more and more pressure on his back at a slow pace. Her fingers were gently caressing him in smooth motions but he couldn't help but notice that she let her nails scrape his skin at the end of each movement.

She moved her mouth a little bit away from his and looked at him. Her gaze was all the confirmation that he needed. It was a loving and gentle expression but Tatsumi could see that there was a hunger hidden behind it.

She was starting to lean into him rather strongly now. Her breast pressing against him. He would soon fall over on his back and she would be on top of him. He knew that she intended for that to happen. She wanted to take him. Unscrupulously and firmly. A part of him also wanted that to happen. He knew ,however ,that his current state made him unable to walk down that road. It would only lead to disappointment for them both.

He put his forehead down on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Esdeath. I can't play with you right now." he murmured. "I'm simply too weak."

Esdeath halted her steady advancement. She had run over his excuses and protests in this kind of scenarios many times before. She would not do it this time,though. Because she knew that he was telling the truth. Even though she had hoped that it was not so. But she could feel it. She felt it in how his muscles responded to her arms and hands. She could feel it in his heartbeats that she felt through her chest. She could feel it in how shaky and weak his breaths were against her shoulder. And she felt the shame in his voice.

He had tried to stop her from taking him many times before. Sometimes even resisting rather strongly. But he had never been ashamed because he couldn't keep up with her.

She hated this. This was not how he was supposed to be! She had never cared about the fact that Tatsumi was not as powerful as her but this was simply unacceptable to her. His great potential was mudded by the damn poison. His beautiful strength was just a shell of what it had once been. All his greatness was besmirched and faded. For the moment, he was truly weak.

Her partner. Her mate.

She cursed herself again for letting this happen.

"My dear,sweet, little Tatsumi." she said in a genuinly sad voice and rubbed her right cheek against the top of his head. Choosing to deny the lustful hunger inside of her.

She tilted her body backwards while keeping her arms around him. So that he was leaning into her instead of vice versa. She pushed his face down into her chest. "It's okay. Just rest here. Leave everything to me. I will take care of everything for you. You just rest and let your body regain it's strength." she murmured to him in sweet voice.

Tatsumi was feeling how he was slipping back into sleep already. His body was really weak and tired. Even if ha had just been lying in the bed for five days. But he wanted to do so some damage control before he fell asleep again.

"Esdeath."

"Shhhh" she cooed.

"I'm sorry that I ran away from you." he lied. Even if things hadn't turned out as planned he had still been able to solve some of his problems. With her unknowing help.

"Don't think about that now. We will resolve that when your strength have returned.", she whispered and started to stroke his head with a hand.

He had fallen asleep in less than a minute. She liked his sleeping much better now. Now it felt like he was actually resting. Not figthing against poison in a drug-induced haze. She kept holding him and stroking his head for forty minutes after he had fallen asleep.

"I will give you a proper lesson when you have recovered completly." she whispered into his hair."I will teach you to behave again."

She kissed his head and slowly rose up to her sitting position again. Putting his head on it's original resting place against her thigh.

She took up her report and started to read through it again. Trying to direct her anger over Tatsumi's reduced condition at something. After a while her thoughts settled upon the great general Budo. The highest ranked army official that still openly mocked and denounced Tatsumi. Her urge to the destroy the man grew even further as she sat there and nurtured her anger. She couldn't wait for the day when she would finally get to kill him.

And then, when she was great general, she would make sure that there was not a single soul in the entire empire that didn't know what it meant to hurt Tatsumi.

* * *

"You know, for being the leader of an organization called the Path of Peace, you sure choose a rather morbid headdress." Makeias said with a smile. Looking at the other man.

The man was almost as tall as him and had long white hair. He was wearing long flowing robes and a huge animal skull over his head as a helmet. He carried a staff in his right hand.

They were standing in an underground room. Lit up by torches on the walls. Except from the two of them the room was filled with about ten people. The two tallest men in the room were Makeias guards, who were standing behind him. While they were really slender with really thin limbs, they towered almost a meter over everyone else. The other eight persons were standing behind the man with the long white hair and the skull over his head. His followers, counsellors and guards.

"Death is a natural part of life." the man answered with a kind voice. "It is important that we accept that in order to find peace in our daily lives."

"I can see where you are coming from but there is such a thing as fear by association." Makeias said and scratched the back of his head. "I think most people that see you will think that you are a part of some sort of death cult.

"No matter what I wear, people will draw diffrent messages from it. That is not important. What is important is that we talk and communicate with each other." the other man continued in the same friendly voice." Besides, it's tradition."

"Very well, let us begin this exchange then. Have you brought your part of bargain? Not to seem inconsiderate but I would like to make this quick. The longer I stay here the bigger the risk is that someone discovers that this meeting is taking place."

The big animal skull nodded. The man wearing it signaled to the people behind him and one of them brought forth a small chest.

"It was not easy to come by. I had to go through great effort to make sure that no one noticed that we stole this from the revolutionary armies secret armoury. So I hope that you have brought the promised exchange."

"Of course." Makeias said and brought forth a paper folder from under his coat. Holding it out to the other man.

The other group of people tensed. "What is the meaning of this, general?" the leader of the Path of Peace asked. Still in a calm voice. "You promised that you would give us the leaders of our organization back if we brought you this teigu." he said and gestured to the box.

"And I have. After a sense." Makeias answered. "You see, the whereabouts of the prisoners you wanted in exchange have been kept rather secret within the empire. Since the leaders of the empire have been very aware that keeping them as hostages was the only thing preventing you from giving further support to the revoloutionary army."

"And these papers are?" the other man said with uncertainty and took the folder from Makeias.

"The best way to protect something can often be to hide it away." He nodded to the folder."Those papers will show you where you can find all your leaders. Most of them are actually just hidden in small unguarded villages around the empire. Locked up in basements and cottages on the country side. Most of them only guarded by two or three soldiers in civilian cloths."

The other man opened the folder and started to look through it.

"I was quite suprised myself."Makeias admitted with a smile."It seems that some of the higher ups in the empire dosen't trust that the Path of Peace doesn't have any followers among the prison guards."

The other man closed the folder."Well then. Thank you for upholding your part."

One of the followers of the man stepped forward."Wait a moment, my lord. How do we know that we are not just being fooled here. This is not what the original deal was." he said and looked at Makeias.

"How rude." Makeias said and shrugged with a smile."I also went through a big risk in order to steal that information. I literally saved it out of a fire as well.

"That doesn't mean tha-" the follower started but was interrupted as his leader raised his hand in front of him.

"Do not worry, my friend. I have a feeling that the imperial general is telling the truth. Right now at least." He turned to his follower. "Trust in me in this as you have trusted me before." he said gently and handed the man the folder. He then signaled for the men behind him to give Makeias the box.

"You're not half as stupid as you seem." Makeias said. "Or maybe you just have good instincts." he said and took the small chest. It didn't weigh much and was small enough for him to carry it under one arm.

"The latter would probably be more correct, general." the skull wearing man answered in the same calm voice. "With this are buisness is done, Makeias." he said and started to turn.

"Not quite."

Those two single words made the other group tense up again.

Makeias reached inside his coat once again and brought out a sealed letter. He gave it to the leader of the other group.

"What is this?"

"Let's call it a buisness proposal. Open it when you are safe and alone."

"Would you care to explain a bit more,general?" ,the lord of the Path of Peace asked in a friendly tone.

"The details are written in there." he said with a gesture towards the letter. "But basically I want you to start propagating for me amongst your followers."

"We are still intending to support the revoloutionary army as soon as our leaders have been returned safely."

"The revoloutionary army is broken. The movements days are numbered. It is a shell of what it once was and it's military power has been reduced so low that the empire doesn't even deem it necessary to dedicate any modest forces to dealing with it. They are non-threat. Held together by the potential of a few remaining teigu users that grow fewer every day."

Makeias started to turn and gave the other man a grim look. His smile gone for a few moments."You rejoining them will not change that fact. Just create more bodies."

"That still doesn't mean that we can support the imperial court as it is."

Makeias smile returned."I said that I wanted you to support me. Not the empire." He started to walk out of the room. His guards following him."Contact me through the usual method if you are interested. That offer will remain whatever else may happen."

The leader of the Path of Peace looked at the letter and then put in one of his pockets.

Makeias walked out of the room and into the next one. It was filled with his soldiers. Waiting for him to return from the secret meeting.

"Everything worked out as planned. Prepare to move out." he ordered in a loud voice.

Everyone in the room started to move out. Packing up stuff and putting on outdoor clothes. Makeias walked across the room to a corner where the one person he was seeking was standing.

It was a small girl. Barely reaching him to the hips. She wore something that looked like a brown bag with holes in it for her arms and head. With the bottom of it cut off for her legs. Her slender arms and legs were dusty and dirty. She had golden hair that almost reached down to her ankles and dark brown eyes that seemed to be brimming with fury at all time.

She held her hands closed at her sides and glared at Makieas as he approached her. He crouched down in front of her. "Hello there, Liza. You seem peachy today." he said with a ridiculing smile.

She slapped him across the face. The movement was lightning fast but Makeias head didn't move an inch from the impact.

"Now, now." he said calmly. Seemingly unfazed."I have a task for you." he said and took forth the chest from under his arm. He held it in front of her.

"I want you to take this to my army's main base to the west of the capital, as fast as you can. There I want you to give it to the man who is taking care of your brother, okay?"

She glared at him for some moments and then ripped the chest from his hands.

"Thank you." he said and smiled. He put a hand on her head and leaned in a bit closer."You are now holding the key to achieving my plan. So don't slip." he whispered to her.

The little girl smiled a cruel smile at him.

"I know." he said and returned the smile "Your brother will be delighted to know that your part in this will soon be over."

She started to walk around him. Makeias straigthened up without without turning around. "If you lose that chest it will never be." he said without looking at her.

She stopped for a few seconds and then darted off. Sending the few of his guards that were not able to get out of the way flying some meters up in the air.

Makeias sighed. "Troublesome child." he said and started walking towards the next room. Starting to move out from the underground meeting place they were in.

His two guards fell in line behind him.

_Now I will only have to wait. ,_Makeias thought. _Liza will bring the teigu to my second-in-command and then the team he has assembled will start searching for someone compatible with it. _

Makieas smiled to himself as he walked into the next room. Not noticing the small movement above him as Akame dislodged herself from the ceiling. Falling down towards the imperial general without making a sound. Murasame drawn in her right hand.

* * *

When Tatsumi woke up for the second time, the sun had settled a little bit. Judging from the sunlight coming in through the windows it seemed to be late afternoon.

The first thing he noticed was that Esdeath was not in the bed anymore. He slowly rose up but it was almost hard to do. After a lot of effort he managed to get into sitting position. Resting his back against the bed's headboard. He felt stronger but not much.

He felt himself jump a bit as he realized that he wasn't alone in the room. Kurome was sitting on a chair at the end of the bed.

_Damn, _Tatsumi thought._ Why is her presence always so hard to detect?_

They seemed to be alone in the big room. She was holding a small book in one of her hands. Holding a finger in it to mark where she was. She was staring at him with an empty expression.

"Kurome, I would really have appreciated if you had let me know that you were here when you saw that I was waking up.", Tatsumi said in a tired voice as he settled down.

"You have been moving around a lot while you were asleep so I was unsure if you were awake or not." she said in a silent voice. Keeping her empty expression.

"Have you ever seen somebody sleep with open eyes, then?" he said and tried to rubb the sleepiness from his eyes.

She simply nodded.

"That was meant as a rhetorical question." he said with a smile. He stretched his arms over his head. He was reminded of the state of his left hand when it touched his other one. Sending a sharp pain through it.

He held his bandaged hand in front of his face. Trying to slowly bend the fingers of it. It hurt like hell. Especially the fingertops. He looked at it for some moments. He wanted to know how bad it was. He started to unravel the bandage with his other hand.

"Don't" Kurome said and took a hold of the hand that was undoing the bandages. He had not noticed when she got so close. He choose to blame it on how concealed she kept her presence by default. Not wanting to admit that his perceptive instincts were basically nonexistent at the moment.

"The doctors looked at it an hour ago." Kurome said silently. "They said it will be fine."

For some moments Tatsumi considered trying anyway but decided that she was probably right. He didn't really know what he would gain by seeing his destroyed hand. He looked at her.

"How bad did it look?" he asked.

"You don't have to worry. I am almost certain that all five fingers were still attached. Mostly." she said. Trying to sound reassuring but failing miserably.

Tatsumi paled a little bit. "Maybe I need to look after all." he said and started to tuck at the bandages again.

"No." Kurome said and grabbed his hand again. She reached over to one of the nightstands and took a bowl that was standing there. She pushed it into his hands. "Eat." she said in a determined voice.

Tatsumi looked down at the bowl. It contained some sort of gruel with some vegetables in it and a wooden spoon."I really don't have an appetite right now, you kno-"

"I was ordered to make you eat that when you woke up." Kurome said. Looking dead serious.

"So what," Tatsumi said in a joking tone."are you gone force feed me if I refuse to eat it?" he joked.

Kurome looked at him for some moments. Then she put a knee on the bed. Starting to climb up on it.

"Ok, ok."Tatsumi said. Grabbing the spoon."It was just a joke ,Kurome."

Kurome climbed down again. Walking over to her chair again. "So was what I said about your fingers."she said silently.

_Then don't be so monotone in how you present it_,Tatsumi thought as he started to eat. He had forgotten how hard it could be to read Kurome at times. Yet he was unwilling to let the atmosphere turn sour. He knew that Kurome would always remain as his ally if he just handled her correctly.

"So, Kurome, why are you stationed here?" he asked. Trying to get a discussion going as he ate the somewhat cold gruel."Couldn't any of the attendants just have told me to eat this when I woke up?"

"The commander no longer trust any attendants enough to let them into this room while you are weakened." Kurome said and picked up the book she had left on the chair. "Not even the new ones."

_And it was her normal footsoldiers that put me in this state, so that explains why she didn't trust any of her regular warriors with this task _,Tatsumi thought. That was good though. The lesser Esdeath trusted her subordinates, the faster things would start to crumble when the plan entered it's final stage.

"Wait a minute." Tatsumi said as the second sentence Kurome had said finally sank in. "What do you mean with "new attendants"?"

"I don't know. I asked where I could find some water but they all excused themselves and said that they only had worked her for a day or so."

Tatsumi got a horrible premonition. He had not been able to move his own secret helper away from Esdeath's service before he was paralyzed. Was Esdeath now searching through the old attendants to find who had set him free. It was exactly that kind of scenario that he had promised his hidden ally that he would help her avoid.

"What happened to the old attendants?" he asked. Trying to sound as nonchalant as he could.

Kurome just shrugged as she started to read her book again.

Tatsumi got a feeling that whatever had happened to the attendants was not good. He needed to get out of here and learn what had happened to them. He needed to know if there was something he could still do for them. If he had been unable to obstruct or distract Esdeath for almost a week, then god knows what she might have done to the attendants.

Tatsumi froze in his train of thought. He had forgotten one thing in the drug hampered condition of his mind.

Leone.

He had postponed that problem since he figured that he could keep Esdeath occupied until he could find a solution to it. But now he had been lying in this bed for five days. Esdeath would have had all the free time she needed to go down and start playing with Leone in her horrible ways.

Kurome's eyes returned to Tatsumi from her book again. She noticed that he had tensed up.

Tatsumi was trying to analyse the situation. He had to assume the worst now. Five days. Five long days. In the worst case scenario, Esdeath had already broken and killed Leone. Or Esdeath might have kept her alive but broken her completly. Intending to make her into a pet. But if that was the case then her death was not far off. Such a high-profile enemy of the empire couldn't been allowed to live for too long. Even if it was for humiliation purposes.

He needed to get up. He needed to know what was going on.

He put down the bowl and started to move to the side of the bed. He still felt so heavy. He was already tired when he was about to move his legs out of the bed. It was only when he was about to put his legs down on the floor that he noticed that Kurome was standing in front of him. He looked up at her.

"The commander ordered me to not let you out of the bed until you have recovered all of your strength, Tatsumi."

_So that is why you are here_, Tatsumi thought. _Esdeath figured that I might be able to convince Wave to let me leave. But you, you put far too much weight on orders._

"I just need to stretch my legs for a bit." he said with a smile. Figuring that he at least need to try.

She shooked her head at him.

"Kurome, I have been out for days. At least let me go say hi to some of my friends so they don't think I'm dead."

"If you want to send a message to someone, I can call one of the attendants over to deliver it." Kurome said. Trying to be tactful.

"So, are you going to force me to stay here."

She nodded energetically. "The commander said that if you had regained your full strength, I would not be able to stop you either way. Since I can't use any lethal means." she said. Trying to explain to Tatsumi that he would be able to leave as soon as he was well again.

"If I had Incursio, yeah." he sighed. "Fine , I give up. Curse you for exploiting my momentary weakness." he said and started to move back into the center of the huge bed. A task that required much more effort than he was proud of.

Kurome watched him struggle to get back into the bed with well concealed pity.

Tatsumi recognized that he might as well rest some more. Even if he found out what the situation was he wouldn't be able to do much about it in this state. And the hard truth of the matter was that he simply didn't have the energy to escape Kurome right now. He didn't have a choice.

He considered sending an attendant away with a letter with a hidden messages but it was those kind of connections that could be traced if somebody started asking everyone of who he had been in contact with. He better just play it cool right now.

"By the way, Kurome, do you know what has happened to Incursio?" he asked as he was getting back to his original resting place.

"The commander has taken care of your teigu personally this time. Only she knows where it is."

"Figured as much." Tatsumi said as he started to slide in under the covers. He suddenly noticed that a single small piece of candy was lying on the bed beside him. In the place he had just crawled back from. He looked at Kurome but she was back in her chair. Reading her book.

Even with how stressed he was, he couldn't help but smile a little. He knew that the small gesture had a lot of meaning behind it.

"Thanks." he said silently and took the candy.

"Go to sleep." Kurome said in an empty voice.

"That seems to be the only thing people tell me to do today." Tatsumi said and turned over.

* * *

"STOP HER!" Makeias roared as he kicked through yet another door. Sending it flying into the room he was entering. Every imperial soldier in the room turned to him as he raced through it. Already heading for the next room. "DID YOU NOT HEAR ME?! DON'T LET HER PASS!" he boomed as he kicked his way through the doors into the next room. The same second he left the room, Akame entered it from the room he had been running from.

Makeias raced through the underground tunnels. Running towards the surface as fast as he could.

It was a small miracle that he was still alive. It was only thanks to the dedication and insane instincts of his two guards that he was still alive. The giant men had somehow been able to detect Akame's attack just before she striked. Pushing Makeias out of the way from the cut that would have killed him. They had both payed with their lives in order to save his. The members of their small tribe growing even fewer.

Makeias cursed under his breath and swore to himself that he would fulfill the promises he had made to their people. If he survived this. He rushed through a long corridor. He couldn't even hear the sound of battle behind him and that worried him even more.

Had the Path of Peace betrayed him? He didn't think so. Their leader seemed to be way to honest for that kind of underhanded tactics. And then they wouldn't have let him send Liza away with the teigu. Now they would never be able to get it back. It seemed more likely to him that some parts of the revoloutionary army had noticed that the Path of Peace had stolen the teigu and had sent night raid to shadow them. Either way, this was a really bad situation.

The crimsoned eyed killer, Akame of the night raid. She was wearing a gas mask but Makeias had recognized her red eyes and black hair from the wanted-posters immediately. And then he had fled as fast as he could. Throwing every soldier with him in her way in order to buy some time.

Akame was the worst possible match-up for him and he was well aware of it. Unlike his fellow generals, Makeias relied on the natural defenses of his teigu in combat. Budo had amazing agility and his teigu acted as an body armor as well. Esdeath had her astounding reflexes and monstrous strength, which made her able to avoid or block any attack. But Makeias defensive abilities were a bit diffrent.

His teigu didn't make him tougher or give him any regenerative abilities. But it did give him an insane level of endurance. His body could receive the most horrible injuries and still move as if nothing had happened. Held together by the infection his teigu constantly pumped into it. It didn't help his body heal the injuries or lessen the damage the attacks caused. The teigu just kept him going. Makeias knew that it would require something akin to decapitation to make him lose control of his body parts. And even then he was unsure of how his teigu would react to the situation.

His teigu gave him a superb ability to survive. Though in what condition was another question. He had killed some of the best warriors the western nations had to offer, simply because they had made the mistake of believing that shoving a spear through his chest or slitting his throat would make him slow down.

And none of it made a bit of diffrence against Akame.

The ability of her teigu was well known within the imperial military. Among all the members of night raid and the revoloutionary army, Akame's profile was the most fleshed out.

So Makeias knew that just a single little cut, just a single little grace of her blade, would mean his end. His teigu's defensive abilities meant nothing here. With the exception of Esdeath's abilities to freeze him, there was not a single teigu that posed such a big threat to him as the one-cut killer: Murasame.

He kicked in a last set of doors and flew out of the underground tunnels. Met by a blue and sunny sky. A grassy field spreading out in front of him. Outlined by a conifreous forest. A group of soldiers and attendants stood waiting for him.

"Go and ready the horses!" he roared. "Leave everything that can be left behind and start moving out as soon as you are ready. I will catch up to you."

The men stared at him for a moment and then began running away over the field. Makeias turned around and looked at the tunnel he had emerged from.

The entrance to the underground tunnel network was disguised as an old abandoned mine. Seemingly sealed off from the public. It was the Path of Peace that had suggested this meeting place and he had accepted it. Thinking that it didn't matter since he was holding the bigger gun anyway, so to speak.

The fact that Akame was wearing a gas mask meant that she knew a bit about the capabilities of his teigu. He would not been able to kill her by poisning the air she breathed. Close combat didn't seem like a good alternativ either. He was pretty confident in his proficiency with his weapon but he had a feeling that Akame had been trained to be able to inflict small and almost unblockable cuts. Makeias had never been the fastest of fighters.

He smiled. _Once again my wits is the only thing standing between me and the grim reaper_, he thought. _But I have way to many promises to fulfill to die here._

He took a deep breath. Calling upon the power of his teigu. Feeding it a part of his life in return for it's power. He opened his mouth and black smoke spewed out of it. He bent over and directed the stream down on the ground where it spread and rose up into the air. Creating a cloud around him.

Ten seconds later, Akame emerged from the tunnel. Jumping out from the darkness in a quick leap. Landing in a crouched stance. Holding her weapon in her right hand. She was met by a huge cloud of thick black smoke. Growing in the middle of the field in front of her. Almost rising as high as the trees that surrounded the field.

"Akame of the night raid, eh? A pleasure to make your acquaintance." a gurgling voice voice called out from the smoke. Makeias walked out of cloud, wearing a smile filled with anger. Akame immediately noticed that the imperial general didn't look like he had done down in the tunnels. He was much paler now. The dark rings under his eyes had gotten even darker. He almost looked like a corpse.

His mouth and teeths were black. A tar like substance trailing down from his lips in long streaks. Dripping down on the ground from his jaw. The clohths on his chest had also been colored black by the same substance. It looked like the dark liquid was emerging from his mid section and then streamed down his stomach and crotch. Dripping down on the ground.

Akame noticed how the grass that was touched by the thick liquid quickly withered.

"You know," the general said in a voice that sounded like a gurgle."if you are carrying a gas mask over your face, you should at least have a mask that covers up your eyes as well. If I hadn't been able to see your eyes, I wouldn't been able to tell who you are. And I would have tried to engage you down in the tunnels. Which probably would had lead to my death."

Akame rose to a standing position. Taking hold of her blade with both her hands. Preparing to attack.

"What happened to the men down in the tunnels?" the general asked.

Akame simply raised her sword in respons.

Makeias smile faded a little."Know that they were good men. They will be missed by their families and friends." Makeias gurgling voice sounded tired and angry. "It seems that behind all of night raid's pretty words and ideals your just another bunch of murderers. Just like me and my kind."

Akame was about to attack when her two attendants emerged from the forest on their left side. Two young girls carrying two swords that looked like Akame's. Designed so that she could teach them her own fighting style.

One of the girls had brown eyes and long brown hair. The other had short blonde hair and blue eyes. Even though they were much younger than Akame, they were highly trained assassins from the revoloutionary army. Given to her so that she could train them and so that they could help her with smaller tasks.

"We have killed all the ones that came running for the horses!" the brown haired girl called out. "We are goi-"

She halted herself mid-sentence when she saw the terrifying appearance of the imperial general.

Makeias turned his eyes to them."Damn, they grow younger every day." he said. His smile growing even wider. _That was a mistake, Assassin_, he thought.

Akame launched herself at Makeias. Attacking the general while he was looking at the other two girls.

Makeias reacted to her attack by jumping backwards. Into the cloud of smoke that was behind him. Akame immediately followed. She had already figured out what the general was trying to do. He knew that she was wearing a gas mask so this cloud was mainly meant to rob her of her sight. But that was his mistake. Akame was well trained to fight without vision. Her ability to detect the presence of an attacker was superb. The general would lose this battle because of his assumption that taking her sight away would slow her down.

Akame closed her eyes the moment before she entered the cloud. Putting her full focus on her other perceptive instincts.

She kept moving forward until she thought she was in the middle of the cloud. Then she stopped and raised her weapon in front of her. Waiting for the general to attack her. Prepared to cut him down as soon as he approached her.

But the attack didn't come.

Five seconds passed. Then ten. Then fifteen. Then thirty. When forty seconds had passed, Akame started to analyse the situation. Why wasn't he attacking? This was supposed to be his counter attack,right? After running up to the surface the general had finally choose to fight her. Thinking that the smoke would aid him.

A question hit Akame. What had changed? Why had he chosen to fight her here instead of facing her in the tunnels?

Suddenly Akame realized what was going on. Nothing had changed. Makeias was still just trying to get away from her. This was a diversion to buy time. And now he had found a way to ensure his escape.

"Yoshiko! Rio!" she shouted. Calling out to her subordinates. When she didn't get any response she dashed off towards the place where they had been standing when she jumped into the smoke cloud. Realizing where the imperial general had gone.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**This chapter grew a bit larger than I had intended. I had actually intended to have the story's second lemon in this chapter but I couldn't make room for it. So the next chapter will start with it. Which will be a bit strange. But I will choose to think about it as if people were reading this entire story in a single sweep. **

**Speaking of that, it hit me that Bent but not Broken will almost be 100 000 words long now. 100 000! That is almost almost 200 A4 pages. 200!**

**I'am worried that this story will seem impossible to get through for new readers. There is something to be said for brevity when it comes to attracting readers. But that is not my forte and probably never will be. So we will trudge on.**

**Not to sound dissatisfied. If you go back to earlier chapters, I have written that I was amazed that just 50 people was following this story. Now that almost 160 people follows it I couldn't be more happy.**

**So thanks for reading and following this story. I hope that you have enjoyed it. The next one will be posted in 6-7 days.**

**Take care of each other.**


	12. A storm rising

**The lemon warning still stands by the way.**

* * *

**A storm rising.**

When Tatsumi woke up for the third time that day, the sun had settled. The room was dark and he could hear the sound of raindrops hitting the windows rather intensely. It seemed like a storm had rolled in over the capital. He could hear the wind blowing outside. Loud and shrill.

Esdeath was spooning him from behind. He could feel her smooth skin against his naked back. One of her arms lying loosely around his chest. Her breathing silent and slow.

Tatsumi blinked for a while as his sleepiness faded. He noticed that he wasn't wearing his briefs any longer. When he had fallen asleep he had been wearing them under the covers. He started to think about why they had been removed but decided that he was better off not knowing.

He then raised his left hand to his face. It was much easier to move now. He seemed to have regained most of his strength. His hand had not recovered so much though. It still hurt a lot to move his fingers. He looked at it for some moments and then started to slowly move out of the bed. He wanted to try and walk around a little bit. To see just how much of his strength had returned.

But when he started to move away, Esdeath's grip hardened and the arm around his chest pulled him back to her. Keeping him in place even when she was sleeping. He figured that he would probably not be able to get out of her embrace without waking her up. But he didn't really mind.

He slowly turned around in her grip so that he was facing her. He looked at her. She always seemed so peaceful when she slept. She had chosen to wear a mostly unbottuned shirt this night. Sitting thightly over her beautiful form. A part of her hair was lying down over her chin. She looked so pretty.

He looked at her for some moments. Contemplating what kind of creator there was that would put such a stunning appearance upon such a dangerous existence. But then again, it was two sides of the same coin. She was such a extremly well developed creature. Both in sheer power and in pure physical appearance. Lean and strong.

Tatsumi had often wondered if she would have developed her extremly sadistic nature and sexuality if she hadn't been so strong. Would she still hold the idea of the survival of the fittest so highly if she hadn't been on the top of it all. Tatsumi thought that she probably still would. Cause some things were impossible to change, even for Esdeath. Even if she had been able to make time itself bend to her command.

She had been unable to save many of her subordinates and the rest of her tribe. Along with her only family. She mourned them but accepted that it was how the world worked. To Tatsumi, that seemed to indicate that she accepted the full consequnces of her beliefs. She had mourned those losses but still held her beliefs. Even if Tatsumi was unsure if she experienced sorrow in the same way as everyone else.

But now it didn't really matter. She was what she was. And she relished her own sadistic nature. Both proud and happy for it. To the point where she had let it control most of her life. Making her choose a path where she would always be able to indulge in it. Letting herself always enjoy her own nature. Even with her strong sense of loyalty and duty, it could still be argued that everything she did was driven by her sexuality. In one way or another. That and the fact that she felt the most alive during battle.

"Hey" he whispered. It was how he usually handled these situations. Trying to see if she was partly awake by speaking softly. But, for some reason, it always got the same results.

Esdeath's eyes immediately opened. Her ice blue orbs already directed at him when she unlidded them. Tatsumi didn't understand how she could ever get any proper rest since she always seemed to be so aware of her surroundings.

She just looked at him for some moments. Then a small smile formed on her face. "Are you having trouble sleeping?"

"Yup!" Tatsumi said with a smile. "Not sleepy at all anymore."

"Want me to make you fall asleep?" she asked in a kind voice. "We are not allowed to put any drugs in you for the moment but I can do it without them if you want." The hand on his back trailed up and grabbed his neck in a grip that was more firm than gentle.

"No thanks. Don't really feel like sleeping. I feel like I have slept enough for a lifetime."

Her grip lightened slightly. Her fingers started to slowly stroke his neck. "How do you feel now?"

"Better!" he said, a bit louder. "I think that most of my strength have returned."

"Hmmm?" she answered. Her smile growing a bit wider. The hand on his neck moved down and clawed against his back. Esdeath was delighted to feel how his muscles tensed up under her hand. Strongly and quickly. He was telling the truth.

"You're right." she said. "At least the most part of it."

"I kind of feel like moving around a bit. I might go for a run or something."

"No, you won't." Esdeath said in a happy voice."I won't have you running around on your own until I have tested that your full strength have returned. And I am gonna stay here in the bed until morning." Her hand on his back drove it's nails into his skin."I think that you can understand why I won't let you run around on your own until then."

Tatsumi weighed his options. He could guess that she had some kind of punishment in store for him. Since he had disobeyed her orders. But if he handled it right, he might be able to turn it around so that it would seem like this entire situation had happened because she didn't trust him enough.

"So what, are you gonna force me to just lay awake her all night. Doesn't that seem a little bit unreasonable to you?"

Esdeath didn't answer him. Her eyes were traveling down his shoulders and then his arms. Happily studying how much more alert his entire body seemed to be now.

"Come on, Esdeath. You can't just force me to stay here."

Esdeath's eyes immediately turned to his and Tatsumi realized that that had been a poor choice of words.

"Ohhh, and why can't I do that?" she said as her smile grew even wider. She leaned into him strongly. Making him roll over on his back with her on top of him. She put her elbows down on each side of his shoulders and rested her head in her hands. Looking down on him. "It seems like a pretty easy thing for me to do." she said with a complacent smile.

"You have to trust me little bit more than this, Esdeath. The military is never going to like me and these kind of scenarios might occur again. It will be troublesome if you are-"

He stopped himself as one of Esdeath's hands came down and forced it's index and middle finger in between his lips and teeth. Bending his jaw open. She looked down at his suprised eyes for few moments. An amused expression on her face. Then she bent down a little bit and opened her own mouth. She reached out with her tongue and let a trail of her saliva pour down into his mouth.

It occured to Tatsumi, that Esdeath probably hadn't been listening to the point he was trying to get across just now.

After pouring her own saliva into his mouth for about five seconds, she closed her mouth and looked down on him. There was a certain look on her face. Her eyes were a little bit lidded and her smile calm and self-confident. Her expression was calmly domineering.

Her hand left the inside of his mouth and went down to his chin and slowly closed his mouth. Her eyes traveled down to his throat and then down to the wound on the side of his neck, where the bite mark she had left there twelve days ago had almost completly healed. She very lightly trailed a finger over it. Then she straightened up a little bit on top of him. Still not moving to a sitting position. Her eyes and smile turned to Tatsumi's eyes again.

"Swallow." Her voice was commanding but delighted.

He looked at her for some moments and then did as he was bid. He could easily tell that her dominating side was in full swing right now. If he defied her now she would only go to greater lenghts to make him submisissive.

Her smile widened a bit when she heard his gulp. Showing some of her teeth to him. She was enjoying this to the fullest. Unlike last time, his body didn't feel like a lifeless doll. Now she could feel how it was reacting under her. She could feel how his heartbeats started to accelarate a bit. She could feel how his chest strongly rose as his breathing got a little bit heavier. Pushing against her breasts that were pressing him down. His body had strength in it again.

Now his male instincts were responding to her again. And she intended to feed them to her own sexuality.

She raised herself up. Sitting on top of his stomach. One of her hands came down and forced it's thumb into his mouth. Placing it on his tongue and forcing his mouth open again. Checking that he had swallowed everything she had given him. Her hand then moved out from his mouth and started to stroke the side of his face.

"Did you enjoy the taste?"

"It didn't really have a taste. Maybe a small hint of toothpaste."

"Good boy."

Tatsumi looked at her for some moments. It was hard for him to determine if she was getting into the first stage of some dominating punishment or if she was just excited and playful. It was easy for him to see that she was aroused. If not for her behaviour and expression then for the heat he could feel against his stomach from her nether regions.

"Are you gonna hurt me?" he asked. Trying to seem relaxed. At times, it could be hard to tell what kind of expression or voice that would draw out her sadistic behaviour so he choose to stay relatively neutral.

She was still showing her teeth to him in a calm and sinister smile. Even if she had a slightly more labored breathing. The hand that was stroking the side of his head moved down across his naked chest. Lightly clawing at it as it traveled down towards his stomach.

"Are you afraid that I will?"

"Hard to not be."

Her hand stopped on his stomach. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her expression a little bit calmer when she opened them again. "No. I will be gentle with you tonight. I don't want to put too much stress on your body until I am certain that you are fully recovered."

Tatsumi smiled and put his arms around her back. Lifting himself up a bit, he started to lick and suck on her nipples. Slowly but strongly. Esdeath put a arm around his back and lifted his body against her. Making it easier for him to keep giving her breasts his affection.

She looked down on him as he did. Both enjoying the sensation of his mouth and hands but also the fact that he was accepting his submissive role so readily. His disobedience during the last week had almost made her expect that he would try to object to his obvious role in this as her submissive mate. Which would have been annoying since she didn't want to hurt him until the morning.

She looked down at him and slowly stroked his back as he continued to knead and suck on her. "Good boy... good boy..." she silently encouraged him.

After three minutes she decided that she wanted more. She lowered them both down until Tatsumi was lying on the bed with her on top of him again. She moved down on him so that she could look him in the eyes. She could feel how his warm and stiff manhood pressed against her stomach as she lay down on top of him.

"Seems like someone is a little bit impatient." she said and started the slowly grind her body against his. Not being able to resist teasing him a little. Even if she was intending to give in to her own temptations in a moment.

Tatsumi grimaced slightly at the increased pressure and stimulation. "Hey, you're the one who is putting the moves on me."

"I prefer to be on the giving end. As you well know. Besides," she pressed her forehead down against his. Staring him in the eyes. "I can do whatever I want with that which belongs to me."

He smiled a crooked smile at her and reached down and grabbed her firm butt with both his hands. Squeezing it slightly. Esdeath took a slow breath and then started to lick him on the face. Almost with enough force to push his face down. First over his lips, then his cheeks then his jawline after having a slight nibble at his ear. Tatsumi tried to reach over to kiss her but she wouldn't let him. Keeping his face down while slowly grinding her body against his. Pressing his erection between them. She kept their faces at the same place so it was pressed against the middle of her stomach since she was a bit taller than him.

Tatsumi continued to knead her butt with a bit more force. Letting his hands travel up on her back and as far down her legs that he could reach.

When she had licked every inch of his face, she placed her elbow down where his collarbones met and pushed him down into the bed. Placing her chin in the hand of the arm that was elbowing him. Looking down on him with a mischievous smile.

"What does the little boy crave so much? He seems to be so flustered and strained." she said and grinded against him a little bit harder. Almost to the point where it hurt.

"Well, not a spit shine of my face, at least." he said and winced slightly from the sensation of her strong stomach.

She tilted her head a bit up so that her eyes were leering down at him. "Beg me for it, and I will let you have what you want."

"You're evil."

"Some people say that. Doesn't change your situation right now." she said. Keeping her smile. She was gonna take him any second either way but she just found it so fun to tease him. He was so cute when he was embarrassed or strained.

"Says the one who got me worked up! Ugh, fine." he looked up at her smiling and hungy eyes."Please, help me get relief, Esdeath."

She just looked down at him for some seconds. A part of her wanted to keep denying him just for the small sadistic joy of it. But she wouldn't. He was looking at her with a determined scowl while his cheeks were red from embarrassment and strain. The sight made her entire body scream at her to take him. Now.

She giggled in a unfriendly way and then leaned down. Putting her mouth over his. Then she made a long grinding motion with her hips. Moving them up to his stomach. Then she pressed them down into his body and moved them back down. Forcing him into her in the smooth motion, without using her hands.

Tatsumi gasped and Esdeath herself couldn't help but let a silent moan escape her lips. "Yeeaahh" she whipered silently."Is this what my little boy wanted?" she said and squeezed down on him.

Tatsumi only answered with another gasp. His hands holding her thighs in a strong grip. She looked at him with an excited and sinister smile. Infatuated with his beautiful green eyes. His own expression stuck somewhere between pained and reliefed.

She didn't move. She just lay on top of him. Enjoying the sensation of having him inside of her. Squeezing him slightly. Well aware that it was driving him crazy.

He tried to push up into her but she wouldn't let him. Pressing him down with her body as her ankles were pressed down on his knees. Not allowing him to raise them so that he could gains some leverage. Her lower arms were laying down on the upper part of his own. Restricting their movements while she looked at his face from some centimeters above him. Her long hair falling down on the side of Tatsumi's head. Making it impossible to see anything but her. Coupled with the fact that he also couldn't feel or smell anything else than her made him once again feel like he was being swallowed whole by her existence.

He struggled for a little while, to her amusement. But then gave up. He looked up at her with pleading eyes."Please move." he whimpered silently in an admission of his submission. Not being able to make anything more happen on his own.

Esdeath's eyes and smile widened once again. Showing her white and sharp teeth to him in a predatory way. The hungry feelings hidden behind her calm and controlling demeanor momentarily showing through. But then she just bent down and kissed him on the forehead.

"You only had to ask." she said in a gentle voice and finally started to move. Moving back and forth on top of him. Still pinning him down under her as she had her way with him. Looking into his eyes as she grinded herself against him while holding him down. Expressing both affection and dominance.

Tatsumi didn't mind it ,though. This was a pretty good reflection of how Esdeath's concept of love worked. Her affection was always expressed from a position of dominance. Taking care of her loved one to such an extent that she dominated his entire life.

It didn't take long for Esdeath to get caught up in the moment. Her movements growing rougher and harder. Just as her breath. She raised her upper body a bit from Tatsumi. Placing her hands on his shoulders as her movements made his body rock heavily. "Tatsumi. Who do you belong to?"

"You." he wheezed through gritted teeth."I belong to you."

Esdeath's cheeks grew a bit redder as she smiled at him."Good boy." She removed her feet from his knees. Allowing him to move with her.

Tatsumi took this as an invitation to play along with her. Her raised his back up and kissed her while his hands moved up her body to her breasts. Kneading them and lightly pinching her nipples as he moved his tongue into her mouth. Tatsumi also losing himself to the moment.

Esdeath slowed down her grinding a bit as he kissed her. Answering to his advances. Her hands still on his shoulders. She went along with him for a while but then decided that she wanted to pick up the pace again. She pressed him down into the bed with her hands again and resumed her rough copulation with him. Remaining in a sitting position.

"You're mine!" she growled as the apex of her pleasure approached. Her hands grip on his shoulders tightened so much that it started to hurt for him.

Tatsumi himself was also getting close but he was not quite as fired up as Esdeath was, who was riding high on the sensations of the moment. His hands had gone down to her waist. Holding on to her hips. More for the sake of holding on than trying to direct her movements.

"Mine and mine alone!Mine!Mine!MINE!" she almost shouted and bent down towards his neck. Tatsumi realized what she was gonna do. She was gonna bite him. Hard. By mere instinct he brought one of his arms up in defense.

Esdeath's eyes widened slightly in suprise as her teeth closed on Tatsumi's lower arm, which he had put in front of him in a defensive gesture. She looked at him for some moments in suprise. Her body continuing to move around on top him. Seeking more pleasure without her having to put to much focus on it.

Then a perverse smile spread on her face and she sank her teeth into the arm in her mouth. Her talking about not hurting him forgotten in the heat of the moment.

Tatsumi grimaced and clenched his teeth as a pained whimper escaped his mouth. The sound of it was the sweetest thing Esdeath had heard in days. She grabbed his head with both her hands as her moment arrived. Still wearing the intimidating smile she moved her face close to his, his arm still in her mouth. Staring him straight in the eyes as she came. A small drop of his blood trailing down her cheek.

Her body tensed and her muscles flexed as the full extent of the sensations blew up inside of her. Making her shiver in ecstasy as the moment left her. A long,deep and delighted moan escaped Esdeath's bloody teeth. Her eyelids were half closed as her eyes were looking up against the ceiling.

She fell down on top of him. She layed there and reveled in the moment as she sucked on Tatsumi new wound. Keeping her mouth on it until the blood stopped flowing. Her body's grinding movements starting to come to a halt.

She moved her mouth away from him after a minute or so. Her body still. She looked at his face and sighed in bliss."I like drinking your blood so much that I actually might eat your body if you would die on me."she said with a smile as she licked the blood from her teeth.

Tatsumi paled a little bit. His dream about her feeding him Mine's flesh very fresh in his mind.

Esdeath cleaned up the blood from her cheek with a swipe of a finger. She looked at the single drop of blood on her index finger."It was a joke, Tatsumi. I am not a cannibal."

"No, you simply just like killing people." Tatsumi said with a hint of bitterness.

"It is not so much the act of killing someone as everything leading up to it that I enjoy." she said absentmidedly as she looked at the drop of blood. She suddenly noticed that he was not softening inside of her. "You didn't get your relief?" she asked and looked at him as she put the finger with his blood on it into her mouth.

He didn't answer. He just looked at her. He had been close but having his defensive instinct woken so quickly had kind of brought him out of the moment.

"Want me to finish you off?" she asked and looked at him. It was a completly genuine question. For the moment, she felt too fulfilled to tease him. He still didn't answer. Just looked at her. She guessed that he was too embarrassed to answer. She had never understood why he felt such shame over the needs of his beautiful body. It seemed so natural to her.

But she could see that there was a need in his eyes and that was all the indication she needed. Feeling that she, as his mate, should give him all the affection he wanted. She crawled down under the covers and took him into her mouth. She finished him in seconds. All the pent-up frustration of his body hidden just below the surface.

Tatsumi gasped as Esdeath drank down the results of his orgasm. Even claiming his seed for herself. She remained like that until he had stopped spasming. She caressed him inside her mouth for a little while after he had settled down. Then she climbed up again and pulled him into her embrace. Putting him back where he belonged.

It took some moments but then his arms moved up and put themselves around her. Causing Esdeath to smile complacently.

"Satisfied?" she asked in a whisper.

Tatsumi sighed. "Yeah. You?"

"It's enough for now." She said and started to stroke his head.

She sounded like she was fine for now but did no effort to conceal that she wasn't fully satsfied. Tatsumi was once again reminded of just how insaitable she was. Not only in this but in every aspect of her life. Be it torture, battle or his love. She could never have enough of it. She always craved more. Tatsumi reflected for some moments if it was this never-ending hunger for sensations that had driven her to become the strongest warrior in the explored world.

He sighed again. He guessed that she was intending to go back to sleep now, since she was keeping him close and still while she slowly stroked his head. Her nose buried in his hair. But he had some things he needed to figure out.

"Hey" he whispered silently.

"Hmmm?"

"What happened to the servants?" he asked. Keeping all emotions out of his voice.

"I replaced them." she said nonchalantly.

"I noticed. So what happened to the old ones?"

"You don't need to concern yourself with that." she said sweetly. She could sense where this was going. She understood that this would sour Tatsumi's mood so she wanted to stay away from it. This sort of consideration was something she only bothered with when it was him she was dealing with.

"Esdeath."

"Fine." she said. Sounding a little bit more annoyed. She moved her face away from his hair. "This is about your secret little helper, right?"

"Yeah." Tatsumi said. Still keeping all emotions out of his voice.

"She won't be helping you anymore. Needless to say."

"So you figured out who it was?"

"I have told you before, Tatsumi. Everyone talks when put under the right pressure."

Tatsumi knew exactly what she was referring to. "So you tortured them." he said. Sounding exasperated.

"What did you expect?" Esdeath asked rhetorically."Did you honestly believe that I would let such a huge insubordination go unpunished."

He buried his face in her chest but it was not in a cuddling purpose. "How far did you go?"

"Far enough to make them talk." she said as she continued to stroke his head. "There was only one of them that I gave any attention to after they had revealed what they knew. She was actually the eight one that I started on. When she finally spilled the beans, I spared the others from the torture."

"Where are they now?"

"I am not exactly sure. When I was done with them I gave the bodies to the new attendants. I would guess that they have been put on display on the road in towards the capital."

"You killed them all?" Tatsumi asked. Unable to keep some of his shock away from his voice. "It was just one of them that helped me!"

"I know. But sometimes it's important to make an example." she said indiffrently. "I wanted this to make a bit of an impact."

His grip on her tightened remarkebly as he pressed his face in between her big breasts. While she enjoyed the sensation in itself, she got the feeling that Tatsumi was a bit upset.

"Was she dear to you?"

"Not really." he answered in a muffled voice. "But I am responsible for her death."

"Not exclusively. She choose to aid you, knowing that this could happen."

"And the other fifteen people? They were only unlucky!"

"Life has many tribulations. They were not competent enough to avoid or survive them. You should not put so much affection towards such weak people, Tatsumi. They might be gone in the next moment and then you will be left hurting." She leaned in and put her nose in his hair again."I am the only one you should give that kind of fondness to."

This conflict was nothing new to Tatsumi. It was the biggest problem in their entire relationship. How she could be so sweet and loving to him while still being the monster that she was. How she could literally go from pleasuring him with her mouth to then tell him that she had tortured his friend to death in just a matter of minutes. A part of him couldn't help but love her. While another part of him would always hate her. He had trained himself to only show her the parts of him that were convenient but he was feeling that he was losing his cool right now.

"And besides, if you hadn't been disobedient to me in the first place then this wouldn't have happened." she said in a sweet voice."Don't do that again, okay?" she sounded charmingly sweet but that only put more emphasis on the threat behind it. Normally it would have made him cover and grovel but now his patience was ending.

"This would not have happened if you trusted me more." he said into her breasts.

"I am fine with this outcome. With the exception of you getting poisoned and beaten." She said and patted him on the head."I was able to root out some people that were not loyal to me and you have hopefully realized that you shouldn't defy me."

"So what happens the next time." Tatsumi said. He wanted Esdeath to give him some more leeway in the future so that he could act more freely but the irritation over the dead servants were also playing a part in it. "What about the next time some nobody within the military tells you that I am responsible for some recent tragedy? Will you just lock me up as soon as somebody points a finger at me."

"Anyone who points a finger at you risks facing my wrath if they can't back up their accusations. Nobody would dare to do that unless they had a good case against you. Which is why nobody has done it yet." she said as she sniffed his hair. "I only choose to pay mind to an anonymous source this time because I knew that you and Bellany had been at each others throats before."

Tatsumi sighed. "You need to trust me." he said as he put his feelings under control.

"I trust some things about you. Though I do not trust that you will always follow my will without a good leash. Which you have proved to be correct these past days."

Sometimes Tatsumi wished that Esdeath had been a much dumber creature than she was.

"Let me keep Incursio next time. Then we can at least minimize the chances of me being poisoned again."

"I will let the next situation dictate that." She didn't give him any ground at all. Being a bit more uncompromising than usual, since he had opposed her so much this last week. She could feel the underlying rebellious tone in his voice and she would not tolerate it.

"Where is my teigu, by the way?" Tatsumi asked. Trying to move away from the painful subject.

"Don't worry about that. I will let you have it back after I have given you your punishment."

Tatsumi looked up at her. "Are you still going to punish me after all this?"

"Of course. You disobeyed me as a general by escaping your detainment. The fact that you only managed to do so because I was lenient on you and didn't put you in the dungeons is even more infuriating." she said and gave him a reprimanding look. "I will administer your punishment when I am checking that your full strength has returned. Then you can have Incursio back. But that is for tomorrow."

"Yeah, cause killing my friend was not enough of a punsihment."

"That is for me to decide."

It was hard for Tatsumi to not notice how relentless she was at the moment. "For gods sake Esdeath. Don't you think I have been beaten enough for a week."

"Apparently not. Don't worry, though. I will not give you anything that hurts for more than a day. But as I said, we will handle that tomorrow. Now go back to sleep. I don't want you to be unrested tomorrow." Her hand moved up and took a hold of the back of his neck again.

Tatsumi felt how she started to squeeze down on the same spots as she had done so many times before. But he still hadn't been able to ask about Leone.

"Wait a... sec...Esde.." He wasn't even able to form a sentence as his body grew numb and his concious started to fade. He looked at her and she stared back at him. Loooking him in the eyes as she made him unconcious with her grip on his neck.

When his eyes closed, she let go of his neck immediately. She stroked it a couple of times. Massaging it to make sure that no real damage was caused. Then she leaned down and kissed him on the forehead. Laying her own head down against his. Going back to sleep.

* * *

Akame rushed through the dark forest. Completly drenched from the heavy raining. The wind was strong and howling. Making the trees sway and shake.

In her arms she carried Yoshiko. Her subordinate was too weak to stand up herself. Much less walk or run.

Akame had chased after Makeias for almost half an hour after she left the mine. When she had emerged from the smoke cloud, the imperial general had been gone. Along with her subordinates. She had however been able to follow the general's tracks. His heavy footprints were accompanied by a trail of the thick dark liquid. She had been catching up to him when she had finally found one of her subordinates.

Yoshiko had been lying right on top of Makeias trail. Alive but dying. Akame had tried asking her about what had happened or where Rio was but her subordinate only mumbled incoherently. After a quick examination Akame had deduced that Yoshiko must have been poisoned in some way by the imperial general. She was clearly getting worse by the second and yet she found now wounds on her. She had also been disarmed at some point. Since her sword were nowhere to be seen.

Akame knew exactly what the meaning of leaving Yoshiko here was. But that didn't help her in this scenario.

Makeias had obviously left Yoshiko here in order to give Akame a hard choice. She could either try to help Yoshiko by taking her back to the Path of Peace so that their medics might help her. But then Makeias would get away and only gods knows what would happen to Rio, Akame's other subordinate. The other alternative was to leave Yoshiko here and keep chasing after the imperial general. Putting her hopes in that she would be able to get back from chasing down Makeias fast enough to still save Yoshiko.

There was no good alternatives available and Akame almost had to spend two minutes considering the situation. She had been trained to always put the mission objective first but now she had subordinates that she was responsible for. But no matter what she did, she would pretty much be leaving one of her subordinates to their fate.

In the end, she went with the choice that gave her the biggest chance of saving one subordinate and abandoned her hunt of Makeias the pillager. Putting her hopes in that she could save Yoshiko. She didn't even know if Rio was still alive so trying to save Yoshiko was the wiser choice if she was going to prioritize her subordinates over the mission.

Even if she knew that she now would have to file Rio as lost in action when she wrote her report. The fact that she most likely would never learn about what even happened to her other subordinate made her feel sick to the core. But now was not the time for mourning. She might still be able to save Yoshiko.

When she had finally picked up Yoshiko and started running, the rain had alreay begun to fall and had only increased in intensity since then.

Now the wind was blowing and thunder could be heard.

Akame slipped when she jumped off from an apparently hollow tree trunk. The thin wood breaking under her weight. Normally she would have been able to land comfortably on her feet but she was unwilling to let go of her subordinate. Falling to down on her side while still holding Yoshiko. She was up and running again in less than two seconds. But she didn't notice that the fall had given a certain level of focus back to her subordinate.

"Commander." she said meakly as she looked up at Akame.

"Yoshiko!" Akame said loudly and looked down on her subordinate as she kept running.

"Commander, help me." Yoshiko said in something akin to a whisper."It hurts so much."

"I am taking you somewhere to get treated right now. Tell me what happened to Rio."

"Oh gods." the younger girl said and wrapped her hands around her stomach. "I can feel it.". Tears started to run down her cheeks. Immediately concealed and washed away by the rain.

"Yoshiko! Focus!" Akame yelled at her subordinate in a strict tone. Just as she had done during so many training sessions before. "Tell me what happened?"

Her subordinate's concentration got a bit sharper just by the mere routine ingraved in her through training.

"We saw that the moment you moved into the black smoke cloud back on the field, the imperial general jumped out from the back from it. We realized that the smoke was a diversion so we ran after him. Figuring that we could shadow him until you caught up with us." Yoshiko's retelling was interrupted by a violent set of coughs. She put her hand over her mouth until it calmed down. Her eyes widened when she removed her hand from her face. It's palm was covered in thick black liquid.

"Ohhh" she said in a very shaky voice. Fighting hard to hold back the sobs."I am not gonna make it, am I?"

"Don't you dare to say that." Akame said angrily as she inreased her pace. "The moment you accept that ,you take the first step to making it a reality. Now tell me what happened to Rio."

"We chased after the general but he was waiting for us fifty meters into the wood. He ambushed us from behind before we realized where he had gone. Spewing that black smoka all around us. I can't remember anything after that. My memory is all foggy."

"You don't remember anything about what happened to Rio?" Akame asked in a kinder tone.

"No. I am sorry, commander."

"Ok, just conserve your energy for the moment. I will get you to someone that can help you."

Yoshiko nodded and closed her eyes. Akame kept running for another ten minutes. She could guess where the Path of Peace probably was right now. They had most likely already moved up from their entry to the tunnel network where the secret meeting had been held. They were probably traveling through the forest right now. She was moving to intecept them on the path she thought they were taking.

But after ten minutes, her subordinate tucked weakly at her arm."Commander." she said. Sounding even weaker than before. "Please, kill me."

"What are you saying? There is still a chance for you!" Akame shouted angrily at her subordinates. "Stop spouting foolishness."

"You don't understand."The youger girl said. To weak to even cry. "I can feel it breeding inside of me. It's eating me up."

"What is?" Akame shouted.

"I don't know. But it is tearing at my fleash and gnawing at my bones." the girl paused as her whole body winced from the pain."Please.. end it, Akame." Yoshiko said. Leaving out titles and honorifics as she begged her friend. "I can't even see anymore."

Lightning striked down into the forest some kilometers away as Akame looked down at her friend's face, which was momentarily lit up by the lightning. Yoshiko's tears had turned black. Mixing with the rain to create long streaks of darkness over her cheeks. All colors were gone from her eyes. Replaced by a dull blackness.

"Never!" Akame answered in a determined voice. "You might have given up hope about yourself. Doesn't mean that I have!" she shouted as she accelerated to a speed she had never been able to reach before. Unleashing energy reserves she didn't know she had. Pangs of sharp pain stricking into her legs as she pressed them far beyond their limits.

"Hold on! We should soon be there." she shouted.

"Akame..." the other girl said weakly as her superior put all her focus on running.

Ten minutes later, Akame jumped through some foliage and landed in front of a caravan of horses,people and carts that were moving through the stormy forest. She had finally caught up to the Path of Peace.

"I need help!" she shouted. Her legs burning with pain as she ran towards them.

"Akame of night raid!" The leader of the organization stepped forward through the group of people. Easily distinguished by the big skull he wore over his head. "What are you doing here?"

"Never mind that now. I need a medic immediately. My friend is dying." Akame shouted and moved towards him.

"I am probably the best healer for miles." the lord of the religous organization said and started walking towards her. For once, sounding fully serious. "What is ailing her?"

"I think it's poison but I don't know. I can't find any exterior wounds." Akame said. A bit of her desperation finally leaking through in her voice.

The man looked over to one of his followers. "Fetch my equipment." He then turned to Akame. "Give her here, child." He said, reaching out for Yoshiko. Dropping his staff into the mud.

Akame gave the tall man the girl in her arms and then stumbled off to the nearest tree. Leaning heavily against it as she removed her gas mask and threw up. Her body quickly regurtiating everything in her stomach as soon as it was given a moments rest. As a mere reaction to the devestating exhaustion that now hit her.

She stood there for a minute and recovered. Then she wiped off her mouth with the back of her hand and straigthened up a bit. Turning around to the man holding her subordinate.

As she approached the man, the huge animal skull turned up to her. "I'm sorry child. This girl has been dead for some minutes now."

Akame froze. She couldn't believe it at first. Had she spent so much of her focus on running that she hadn't noticed when her friend faded away?

After some moments she walked up to her subordinate. She only needed to look at her to tell that he was right. Yoshiko was completly still in his arms. Her face pale and eyes half closed.

She stood there and looked at her for a good ten seconds. Then she reached down with her left hand and closed the eyes of her dead friend.

"Do you want me to perform the rite of passage?" the tall man asked silently. Offering to perform the farewell ritual of his religion himself.

Akame turned around and dashed off into the forest without saying a word. She put her gas mask on again. The pain in her legs completly forgotten. Makeias was still out there in the forest somewhere. He probably had more than an hour of head start on her but if there even was the smallest of chances that she could catch up to him then she had to try. If there was even the slightest of chance that she could make him pay for this, then she would try until she fainted.

Akame started to accelerate through the woods once again. The rain washing away the tears on her face.

* * *

The rain smattered against the windows of the great general Budo's office. He sat at a huge desk looking through papers and reports.

He had finally gathered enough evidence. It was time to act.

The letter he had been given by Wave of the jaegers had been short and concise but it's information had proved invaluable. He would need to look into whoever it was that had sent it to him.

The letter had simply directed him to diffrent politicians and military leaders. Telling him that the prime minister was trying to frame these people for betrayal since they were opposing him on the political field. And sure enough. One after another they had been accused and killed for their supposed betrayal.

The letter stated exactly what he should look for when this happened.

The first thing that had been suspicious had been how discreet the imperial court had been about their defections and executions. The empire usually paraded the punishment of betrayers whenever it got the chance but these executions had been done so dicreetly that it would have gone unnoticed by even himself if the letter hadn't warned him.

The second thing that was suspicious was that all the accusations came directly from the prime minister. What indications the man himself had that made him accuse them in the first place had never been revealed. Making it seem more likely that the prime minister simply wanted to remove them from office.

The last nail in the coffine had been provided by the letter. It had told him how he should examine the evidence for these supposed betrayals. It had told about how he would be able to tell that the evidence had been planted there. He had done so and quickly been able to tell why the accused people had been innocent in the first place. Framed and executed for a crime they didn't commit. They had been loyal to the empire until the moment they died.

The fact that the empire had fallen so low as to destroy it's own loyal servants did not only anger Budo greatly but it also sadden him to see that the nation that his blood had defended through history had been so deeply corrupted during his watch.

This needed to stop. Now.

He had not been idle through all of this though. He had gathered the evidence of these so called betrayals after their trails. He had also gathered his own evidence to show that these men had been framed. It was time to act. The prime minister's time was up.

"Courier!" he shouted in his usual commanding tone.

In two seconds his personal miltary courier entered the office. "Yes, sir?"

"I have a task for you. Come closer."

The young man took a couple of steps towards the great generals desk."What can I help you with, sir"

"A message, as always. But this one needs to be a bit more secretive than your usual undertakings."

"What do you mean, sir?"

"This message must be kept off all records. And it must be kept away from any political forces as well." the big man looked at his courier. The young man had been under his command for almost three years but he was still hesitant to force the man to disregard his duties to the military postal service. "Can I trust you with this?"

"Of course,sir!" the young man answered with gusto. Loyal to the great general until the end. Just as most of Budo's soldiers.

Budo gave the man one of his rare smiles and nodded."Good"

He rose up from the desk and walked over to a cupboard in the room.

"The message must be delivered with haste. It will go out to all the bigger military leaders within the capital. I am summoning them to a meeting."

"A meeting, sir?"

"Yes. The time has come for them to prove that they are loyal to the empire. Not it's leaders." The great general said. Pulling forth some papers from the cupboard. Ignorant to the fact that the one who had actually framed these people were the same person who had sent him the letter.

* * *

**Authors note:**

**AAAH! This goddam manga! It hurts me so much! **

**Now with the chapter released last week, the EsdeathxTatsumi ship is truly sunk. I mean, it was extremly unlikely to happen from the start but I still garnered some foolish hope. I stated as I began writing this that this story was a consolation for Esdeath's and Tatsumi's failed relationship and that still remains true. So I guess it has always been easy to guess what I wished to happen. **

**Not that I want to dicredit the writer of the manga. This is a logical progression of the characters and extremly compelling. At least for me.**

**But damn, if this story ends with them dying in each others arms, I will be bawling like I was five years old again. Then again, if the next chapter of the manga had Esdeath and Tatsumi fall into a loving and funtional relationship, then Bent but not Broken would be dropped the same day. My need to write it gone.**

**So come one and come all shippers of EsdeathxTatsumi. I will console you as I console myself through writing this story. Cause the more painful the manga becomes to read as an EsdeathxTatsumi shipper, the more my need to write this will increase.**

**Thanks a lot for reading. If there is one thing that might keep me writing this even if the manga went as I wished, then it would be you readers. Every new follower/favorite and ever new comment/review is envigorating as a writer.**

**I have a bit more work ahead of me right now so expect the next one in 8-10 days. Take care of each other until then.**


	13. Standing on the edge

**On time once again.**

* * *

**Standing on the edge.**

When Tatumi woke up again, someone had already put clothes on him and wrapped up the bite wound on his arm in band-aids and bandages. He could pretty easily guess who it was that had played dress-up doll with him in his sleep. Probably finding enjoyment in trying to do it without waking him up.

Especially since she had dressed him up in clothes of her own choosing. Picking the things from his wardrobe that she herself had gotten for him. A lot of black and white. To both contrast and mirror her own appearance. Esdese had a strong sense of style but her inclinations had always been a bit too flashy for Tatsumi's personal image. According to him. She always wanted to flaunt and show off a bit more than he did. In all matters. It seemed like she had taken her chance to dictate his own appearance right now.

He realized why she had done it pretty quickly. As soon as he tried to move, he noticed that his hands were locked together behind his back. He could feel that his bindings was one of her designs. Interweaving his fingers so that he couldn't break free without crushing them.

As he rose up, with some difficulty, he saw that a note had been left on one side of the bed. It's message written out in Esdeath's elegant handwriting.

**Come to me!**

**Guards are waiting outside the chamber to escort you to where I am. **

**Do not do anything stupid!**

Tatsumi sighed as he remembered her words about punishing him. He rose up from the bed and walked out of the bedroom. It was still raining heavily outside. He could hear the strong winds. With some effort he managed to get one of his long coats over his shoulders in the entrance hall. Concealing the fact that he was tied up. Making it look like he simply was holding his arms behind his back.

He opened the door with his leg and walked out. Closing it behind him with his foot. Trying to act natural to the guards standing outside. He knew their faces but had no idea of what their names were.

They were some of Esdeath's more esteemed warriors. Taken from the one of her elite squads. Used as shock troops and assault units. These men had seen their share of combat. Battle hardened and steadfast. Tatsumi had a certain respect for them. The fact that they were good enough to tell just how much more powerful he was than them helped a lot. Since they were always vary and polite to him.

One of them immediately walked up to him. "Tatsumi, sir!" he said and bowed lightly."We have been ordered to immediately escort you to Esdeath."

Tatsumi noticed how tense the men were. As well as the fact that they all had their entire battle attires on. It seemed that Esdeath had ordered them to not let him go, no matter what. Kind of a cruel thing to do since the men were well aware that they had no chance against him. But he was not going to make this hard for them.

"And I guess that she ordered you to not let me go anywhere else?" he said with a bitter smile.

The man nodded. "I'am sorry, sir. You know what disobedience will get us."

"Don't worry about it." He said and shook his head. Unable to gesture with his arms. "Where are we supposed to meet her."

"She is currently down in the torture chambers, sir."

"Lovely." Tatsumi said sourly. He nodded to the man. "Lead the way."

Forty minutes later, a soldier in the torture chambers walked into the room Esdeath was occupying.

The room was rather grimy. Bloodstains were spread over the walls and the floor was covered with long streaks of it. Flowing down towards a small hole in the floor in the middle of the room. Loud screams could be heard from the other rooms but this room was relativly quiet. Only filled with the weak moans and whimpers of the few people that hanged on the walls. It stank quite bad. As it usually did in the torture chambers. Torturing was a messy business and many people soiled themselves when their bodies started to give up.

Esdeath was standing in the end of the long and somewhat empty room with her back turned towards the door and the newly arrived soldier. She was not wearing her uniform but were instead dressed in a white, more clinical attire. Her usual fingerless gloves replaced by plastic ones that covered up her entire hands and arms,all the way up to the shoulders. Her hair was tied in a long ponytail that reached down to her knees. She had three people standing around her and her victim. One of the torture masters that handled these parts of the dungeons and the other two were servants that held trays with diffrent tools and syringes for her.

"Yes, soldier?" Esdeath asked without turning around. Not leaving her current activity with her eyes as she pressed the metal tool a bit further into the flesh of her victim. Trying out at theory.

"A message from the entrance room, general." the man called out in a strong voice.

"You need to be a bit louder, girl." Esdeath said. Ignoring the soldier for the moment. " Otherwise, I won't know if I am doing anything... **right!**" Esdeath put more force on the last word as she drove the tool into the spot she had been trying to reach.

The scream of the woman in front of Esdeath didn't even sound human. A piercing and shrill tone. Making the soldier jump a bit into the air.

"There you go!" Esdeath said in an encouraging and soft tone."Do you want me to do that again?"

"No please no.." the blonde woman whimpered. "I've had enough."

"That is not really your choice." Esdeath said and turned around. She looked at the soldier as she put a bloody and crooked metal tool on one of the trays her attendants were holding."What message, soldier?"

"Tatsumi of the jaegers has come to the entrance hall. He requests an audience with you."

"Already?" Esdeath said. Sounding a bit suprised. The soldier nodded at her. "I did not expect him to come down here so soon."

She turned and looked at her victim. She didn't want Tatsumi to see this. She knew that seeing his old ally like this would probably garner a rather agressive reaction from him. She didn't want him to be more mad at her than necessary. Considering that she was gonna punish him now. It would be better if she could keep as much of his emotions out from that as possible.

"Torture master Kenneth. Your new here aren't you?" She said and looked at the big young man. He was gigantic. Almost three heads taller than her and thrice as wide. His figure reminded her a lot of Bols. But this man carried the giant head shaped helmet that was standard for the torturers.

"Yes, milady." he said and bowed. "It has been an honor working with you."

She smiled at him."You have been of some use to me this morning. Good job."

He bowed to her again. "Thanks general. That means a lot."

She nodded."Now go with the soldier and fetch my partner for me. Then take him to the main hall. I will meet you there."

"Yes, general!" the man answered with gusto and walked out from the room with the soldier in tow.

When the two of them had left, Esdeath turned back to her victim. She reached out with a hand and grabbed a handful of her blonde hair. Turning her face up to her.

"So, do the little kitten want to play with me some more later on?" she asked in a seductive voice as she looked the girl in the eyes.

"No.. Not any more of this... I... I don't..." the girl mumbled in respons.

"Then tell me who your mistress is." Esdeath said. Moving a bit closer to her victim. "Come on. Who is your mistress?" she said in an encouraging voice. Sounding like she was talking to an animal.

Leone looked up with the one eye she could still see through. The defiant gleam suddenly flared up in it again. "Go to hell, ice-bitch."

Esdeath's expression grew even more entertained. "You really are fun to play with. You still haven't broken after all this." she said. Her other hand came up and grabbed Leone's cheeks."Well then, I will come down here and continue teaching you how to behave later. Now I have to go and enjoy some time with Tatsumi." she went on. Trying to get an reaction from Leone. When she didn't get one, she let go of her hair so that her head fell down again.

She turned around and started to walk out of the room. "Take her back to her cell and chain her down. Let her keep her teigu on for a day or so. Take it away when she has recovered sufficiently."

"Yes, ma'am" the attendants answered in unison.

Esdeath opened the door leading out. "And try to reattach her fingers and toes again."

At about the same time, a few floors above this, torture master Kenneth and his accompanying soldier met with Tatsumi.

"This is the one." the soldier said and gestured towards Tatsumi with an open hand.

"Really?" the big man said and looked at the soldier who simply nodded in response. "Are you the partner of Esdeath."

Tatsumi nodded tiredly. Trying to conceal the lockings on his hands the best he could.

The big man didn't seem to believe him. "The imperial general? You know, the ice queen?"

Tatsumi simply looked at the eye sockets on the big man's helmet. Giving him a look somewhere between bored and challenging. "I'am guessing that you are new here." he said.

"Come on, little guy." the big man said and bent down a little so that they were on the same level."This is not the place to be trying any pranks."

Tatsumi sighed."Just take me to Esdeath. Then you can go back to your pathetic profession."

The big man straightened up."Fine, but don't say that I didn't warn you." He turned on his heels and started walking away. Tatsumi following in his footsteps. Leaving his escorts behind.

Five minutes later they were in the main hall of the torture chambers. The dimly lit and barren rooom acted as sort of a lounge hall for the torturers and attendants. A prisoner where escorted through the room every now and then but no actual torturing happened in this room.

They had barely been standing in the big room for more than a minute when Esdeath arrived. Followed by a couple of attendants. Taking off the last one of her long, plastic and bloody gloves as she entered the room through an open doorway.

Her relatively serious face shone up when her eyes landed on Tatsumi. She picked up her pace as she walked towards him. After all this time, the sight of him still made her feel giddy.

"I'm sorry general." the big man said and scratched himself behind the head with one of his arms."But this is the boy that was requesting an audience with you. I tried to tell him to buzz off but he-"

The big man interrupted himself as Esdeath walked right past him and hugged Tatsumi. Pressing him hard against her body. "Did you sleep well?" she asked happily into his hair.

"Yeah." he said. Then he whispered silently."But I could have done without these handcuffs!" Hoping that no one else heard that.

"I just wanted to be sure that the guards could handle you if you were feeling especially rebellious." Esdeath said a bit too loudly for Tatsumi. Still sounding happy.

"Do I seem like a teenager to you?"

She giggled and rose her head up from his for some moments. "Well, you have been a bit unruly these last days."

Beside them, turture master Kenneth had dropped his jaw. Even if no one could see it, due to the helmet he was wearing. "Are you serious? Is that really Tatsumi?"

"Yeah, torture master. This is my mate." Esdeath said and drew her fingers through Tatsumi's hair. She turned her head and gave the big man a questioning look, keeping Tatsumi in her embrace. "Why is that so shocking to you?"

"I just thought that your partner would be more.. I don't know.. stoic? Considering who you are I just thought that he would be way more awe-inspiring. I mean.." he gestured towards Tatsumi."He isn't really manly at all, general"

The room got a little bit more silent as everyone tried to discreetly pay attention to the discussion. The new torture master's lack of experience in Esdeath's company showing through.

Esdeath could feel Tatsumi sigh in her arms. She smiled at the torture master. "Believe me, Tatsumi could beat everyone of you without using a weapon." She looked down on the boy in her arms. "And I can assure to you that I have enjoyed his male attributes quite a lot." she said and gave Tatsumi a pat on his head.

The room filled with light laughter. Everyone more at ease, now that it seemed like the general hadn't taken offense to anything.

"Now return to your duties. All of you." Esdeath called out. Setting the entire room into motion. Everyone scufffling back from their breaks. The attendants behind her started to walk away along with everyone else.

"Oh, and one more thing, torturemaster Kenneth." she said in a kind yet loud voice. A gentle smile on her face.

"Yes, milady?" he answered and immediately turned around. Having started to walk out of the room himself.

"The next time I hear you talking condescendingly about Tatsumi, I will rip your tongue out. Understood?" she said in a happy tone.

This time the room grew completly silent. Everyone looking at either Esdeath or Kenneth, aware that Esdeath did not make empty threats.

The big man raised his hands and waved them in front of him in an excusing motion."I'am sorry Esde-Ma'am general. It was just a simply joke. I didn't mean any harm." the man stuttered.

"Understood?" Esdeath repeated. Her voice much harder and colder this time. Her smile gone.

"Yes! Completly understood, general!" He bowed deeply. "I'am very sorry. I meant no offense."

Esdeath looked at him with hard, unfriendly eyes. "Get back to your duties." she ordered with a nod to the side.

The man turned around and hurried away. Feeling Esdeath's gaze drilling into his back until he had left the room.

When he was out of the room, people slowly stared talking again. Relieved that nothing had happened. When the volume in the room had reached a higher level Tatsumi turned his face up to Esdeath's. He lightly rubbed his nose against hers when he did. Since she had been looking down on his head.

"Wow. Not that I mind but that was way more agressive than usual. Have you become more sensitive about what people say?" He teased.

"Not really." she said and brought forth the keys to his bindings from her cleavage. Having been forced to keep it there since these cloth's offered little in the terms of pockets. "It is a matter of making an example, Tatsumi. Just as I did with the attendants."

She reached around to his back with her arms and started to unlock the bindings on his fingers. Her forehead pressed against his as she did."That one of the attendants dared to free you means that some people haven't realized what insubordination means in my ranks." she said as she looked him in the eyes. "And the fact that some of my own soldiers actually attacked you means that I have to statuate some examples in that regard as well. "

She removed the handcuffs from him and straightened up a bit."Since it seems that some people have not yet realized that hostility against you means hostility against me. No matter what form it takes."

"Well, thank you. But it would be easier if you could just turn a blind eye to me beating some of them up. Then I am sure the nagging would stop."

"You know I can't do that." she said as she returned the keys to their original place. "So from now on, please try to get some evidence if someone else is abusing you. So that I can make an example out of them."

This was great, Tatsumi thought. This sort of distrust between Esdeath and her followers was just what he needed. If the distrust kept increasing then he might be able to even send Esdeath after some rather important people later on. An unexpected benefit gained from Esdeath finding him being roughed up by her own soldiers.

"I will try to remember to do so." He put his hands behind his head. "Anyway, should we get this over with? I would rather not prolong the wait for my punishment."

"Yeah" Esdeath said and stretched her arms over her head."Let's do it."

"Did you have any particular room in mind?" he asked and looked around."You know your way around this place better than I do."

A smile that looked both compassionate and entertained formed on her face. "Tatsumi." she said in a caring voice."Did you think that I was going to lock you up on a bench and torture you?"

"Well,"Tatsumi said and smiled at her. Realizing that it was not going to happen. "I thought it seemed like the easiest way to do it. Since we already are in the torture chambers."

"Tatsumi.." she said and put a finger under his chin. Lifting his face up slightly. A warm smile on her face."You are my partner. Not a vigilante to be punished or a subordinate needing an lesson. Even if I had intended to torture you like they do here, I would have done it up in our bedroom. Not down here amongst this rabble and weaklings."

"Good to know." Tatsumi said with a crooked smile."What did you have in mind then."

"Your punishment will be handled in a training match." she said in a thrilled tone. Reaching down and grabbing one of his hands.

"Against who?"

She smiled excitedly at him. Bringing his hand up between them. Squeezing it so hard that it hurt. "Who do you think?"

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Esdeath had changed to her uniform and fetched Incursio from wherever she had been hiding it. She was walking towards the training halls with Tatsumi by her side. Keeping Incursio in her left hand. Not yet giving it to him.

They were heading through a long corridor. It's left side was open to a big inner garden. Full of colorful flaura. Now completly devoid of people because of the intense rain. The corridor was empty as well. This was one of the parts of the palace where only the highest ranked military were allowed. So they were pretty much alone.

The mood was rather warm between them. Despite what activity they were heading for. But the fact that he was not gonna be tortured had lightened Tatsumi's mood and Esdeath was happy to see it.

"..and then that meant that you had fifteen people, who were all higher ranked than me, that didn't want to help me. Simply because they thought that you had demoted their captain because he didn't like my clothes." Tatsumi explained while smiling at her.

"Yeah right." Esdeath sniggered."They really will do anything to avert attention from their own subpar performances. You should have forced them to help you."

"Didn't have the rank for that."

"You had the force. If they were such cowards you could have intimidated them pretty easily."

"Then someone would have whispered about it in your ear. Sooner or later."

"I would have let that one slip by. They were clearly not upholding their duties either way."

"Ahh, I wish you could tell me these things beforehand. Now I regret not giving some of the nastier ones a good punch."

"Ohh, maybe I can still arrange for something if you behave."

"You really are a sweet girl, you know that?" Tatsumi said with a jokingly ironic smile.

"Well, I do my best." she said with a shrug.

They both snickered as they walked on when a small gathering of figures entered the other side of the empty corridor. Causing them both to look over. The approaching group was easy to distinguish.

It was Makeias. Followed by a retinue of nine people. Two of them were regular soldiers from his legions. Both of them, along with the general, were completly drenched. They looked like they had gone swimming in their clothes. Leaving wet tracks as the walked through the corridor.

The other seven were the long and slender people from the tribe that had pledged themselves to him. Towering over Makeias and the two soldiers. Making them look like children nex to them. Though unlike Makeias and the soldiers they were completly dry. Giving the three men towels and helping them carry their equipment. Seeming to have much more energy than the other three.

Makeias was currently talking to one of the giants that stood out a bit. Unlike the others of his kind who carried special made uniforms, this man had long grey robes hanging on him. Dragging behind him on the floor. Just as Makeias's destroyed general's coat. He was heavily hunched over. His head almost at the same height as Makeias. His head was hooded and he had a long white beard growing from his chin. Reaching all the way down to the floor. He leaned on a long wooden staff which reached way over his hunched form and had a big owl sitting on his shoulder.

"Did it really happen that fast?" Makeias asked in a hushed and frantic voice." It must have been instantaneous. Considering that you are here right now"

The giant bearded man nodded slowly.

"And there is no other that it has shown compatibility with?"

The tall man shook his head.

"The gods are cruel. Now I will have given both his children to-"

Makeias stopped himself and looked up at Esdeath and Tatsumi. First noticing them now. His perceptive skills suffering greatly from his exhaustion.

Tatsumi slowed down a step so that he was walking slightly behind her right side. Taking the position of a subordinate in a meeting between military officials.

"Well well!" Esdeath called out. Her hands on her hips. Stopping when they were a couple of meter in front of the group. "Look what the cat dragged in!"

"Spare me, you goddam blue popsickle." Makeias said with his head tilted to the right side. Hitting it on the other side with his hand in an attempt to get the water out of his ear.

Esdeath's smile grew a got a bit more forceful. Usually he was the one pushing her patience. This was a welcome change of pace. "Gone for morning swim, have you?" she said and took a step forward. "Or did you just miss that it was raining outside?" She enjoyed that everyone in the other group tensed as she took a step towards them. Giving her the respect she deserved.

Everyone except Makeias, who seemed unfazed. Still occupied with getting the water out of his ear. "Yeah yeah yeah. Very funny"

Esdeath walked up to him. "By the way, how are those ribs of yours healing? I hope they don't hurt too much." Esdeath said with an happy expression. Her tone suggesting that she hoped for the opposite.

"Tch," Makeias got a smile of his own."you will have to hit much harder than that if you want to damage me in any meaningful way."

"Oho." Esdeath said. Her eyes growing menacing as her more playful side started to come out. In a bad way."Want to test if I can do it?"

Makeias sighed, keeping his smile. "We both know the answer to that. Anyway," he said as his voice returned to it's usual sly tone."why don't you go and torture some people that don't deserve it so that me and the others who actually deserve it can go on with our day. I am sure you have your own joyfull duties to uphold."

"As it happens, I do." Esdeath said, smiling for some moments before walking past him. The men behind him edging away from her as she did. She had just passed them when Tatsumi spoke up.

"Esdeath. Could you give me a minute."

She looked over her shoulder at him. "What for?"

"I would like to trade some words with general Makeias. If he has time for it?" Tatsumi said and looked at the general.

She turned around and crossed her hands over her chest."Sure. Speak." she said. Giving Tatsumi a piercing look.

"In private, Esdeath." he said and met her gaze."If the general has time for it, that is." he said and looked at Makeias.

Esdeath's hard gaze shifted to Makeias who were looking at Tatsumi with an empty expression. Tatsumi still had no idea that Esdeath had realized that the two of them were keeping something hidden from her. He was also unaware that she had threatened Makeias to stay away from him. So he thought that this wouldn't seem too strange to her.

Esdeath looked at Makeias with a cold and hard expression. Her entire presence reminding the man of what she had said. Makeias just stared at Tatsumi for some seconds. Then his gaze his gaze traveled up to Esdeath. A smile forming on his face. Esdeath's frown grew deeper.

"Sure, Tatsumi. I got some minutes to spare." the general said while smiling at Esdeath.

Esdeath's nostrils flared as she started to emitt enough hostility to make some of Makeias tall guards reach for their weapons. Their sensitive instincts overflowing with an urge flee.

Esdeath concluded that she had been way too gentle with Makeias if he still tried something like this. She had been very clear in her warning. Between this, the attendants and her own soldiers beating Tatsumi, Esdeath started to wonder if she had become a bit too soft in the later days.

She lowered her arms to her sides. Her fists clenched."Did you forget what I told you in the arena, pillager?" she said in an ice-cold tone. Her eyes drilling into him.

Makeias straightened up a bit and turned to her."Hey, I am not the one taking the initiative." he said with a shrug. "It would be rude to deny Tatsumi a simple conversation."

Esdeath started to slowly walk towards him. "I will give you a warning. Since you are a general. I was joking when I asked you if you wanted to check if I could hurt you for real some moments ago. But if you don't crawl away and hide now, I am actually going to hurt you really bad."

"I don't know if your fat friend have enough influence to let you get away with attacking another general." Makeias said with a smile.

"I will make sure that you will only be singing me praises and denying that I attacked you when I am done." she said as she continued her steady approach.

Tatsumi was unsure of why this had escalated so quickly but he understood that Esdeath and Makeias had talked about this before. And that Esdeath had told him to stay away. Now it looked like they were heading for a total confrontation either way.

He thought about it for a moment. If Esdeath crushed Makeias here, that was not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself. He felt confident that she could defeat this general. Even if Makeias was the type to carry some cards up his sleeve. However, the problem was that if she defeated and broke her fellow general then he might start leaking information. And if Tatsumi's sucpicion was correct then Makeias knew that he was the one who had lit the archives on fire. If Esdeath learned about that, then everything would be over.

He decided to intervene.

He walked up and put himself in front of the approaching Esdeath. "Come on Esdeath. We just want to talk a little. It's no big deal."

Esdeath didn't look away from Makeias."It's about making an example, Tatsumi. Just like before." she said as she continued walking towards the other general. When she got close to Tatsumi, she reached out towards him with the hand not holding Incursio ,while still keeping her eyes on Makeias. Intending to gently but firmly push Tatsumi out of the way.

The moment her hand was about to touch his shoulder, he avoided it and moved toward her by spinning around. He smashed himself into her front while wrapping his arms around her. Without Incursio's power, the force of it barely made her move at all. But it did make her stop walking. Even if it was not because of his power.

She sighed. "Tatsumi." she said in a tired voice. Her free arm came up around him. Pressing the lower part of the arm against him to hold him in place, while it's hand came up and grabbed his neck. Intending to put him under again. When she started to squeeze down with her fingers, he simply tightened his grip around her body.

"Please don't." he whispered into her bosom. Only audible to the two of them. But unlike last night, Esdeath actually stopped applying the pressure. Her feelings getting in the way.

It was one thing to make him fall asleep in her embrace and then hold him close throughout the night. Another thing entirely to rob him of his concious and then throw him to the side to fight someone. Her entire body revolted against the thought of discarding her Tatsumi to the side like a used rug when he was clinging so tightly to her of his own free will. The part of her that wanted to subdue Makeias cursed that the little boy had managed to steal her heart like this.

But it was not much for it. Makeias time would come, she reasoned. She could wait a little bit longer. It felt like it would have been too symbolic to just dump Tatsumi to the side right now.

Tatsumi sensed how she was consigning to letting Makeias go and looked up at her. He gave her the warmest smile he could. "I will pay you back in any way you want." he said to her.

She just reached up with her hand and grabbed his hair so hard that it hurt him and then reached down and kissed him. Strongly and passionately.

Makeias looked at how it all played out with a watchful gaze. He could think of several quips and jests he could make right now but this time he actually decided to keep his mouth shut.

When some seconds had past Esdeath moved her head up again. "I will make you pay me back plenty for this." she said. Looking annoyed but not angry.

"Anything you want!" Tatsumi said with gusto.

"I will take this chance to go and do another errand. I will meet you in the training halls in an hour. Understood?"

Tatsumi nodded energetically.

She ran her fingers through his hair and then let him go. With a last hostile look at the other general, she turned around and started to walk away. "And Tatsumi."

"Yeah?"

"If you take this chance to run away from me again, then this time I will not hesitate to take out my fury on your friends." she warned as she walked away.

"Understood." Tatsumi said and smiled bitterly at her back.

Tatsumi and Makeias's group watched as Esdeath left the room. When she was gonna, Makeias put his hand on Tatsumi's soldier. "Well, thanks for that. Probably spared me some pain there."

Tatsumi sighed."She is probably gonna make me regret those words later."

"That goes for the both of us." Makeias said with a little friendlier smile.

Tatsumi turned around to the imperial general and looked at him. The fact that he was drenched from head to toe did not make the man look more sophisticated. Coupled with his shaggy hair, the destroyed long coat and his muddy pants, the man truly looked tattered and torn.

"Sir, maybe you should get some dry clothes. You will catch a cold like that."

"Bah. I am basically a walking plague already. Sinckness and infections are free to try. They will fail to kill me. Like so many before them."

Tatsumi was a bit uncertain about what the general meant with that, noticing that this seemed to be a theme when interacting with Makeias. "If you say so."

"I do. Now should we have our small but likely costly talk?"

"Yeeaaahhh.." Tatsumi said and looked at the people behind Makeias.

Makeias followed his gaze. "Ahh of course." He turned around. "Go back to the barracks and get some rest. I will be with you shortly." he ordered his followers.

The group of people started to walk away. Leaving Tatsumi and Makeias alone. With the exception of of the thin, bearded giant. Who remained behind Makeias, leaning heavily on his staff. The big owl on his shoulder staring at Tatsumi. Tatsumi looked at the weird appearance.

"Ahh don't mind him, Tatsumi." Makeias said calmly. "This man knows everything that I do." he turned around and gestured with an open hands towards the giant man. "Tatsumi this is Tom-Tom, my second-in-command."

"Tom-Tom?" Tatsumi gave Makeias a questioning glance.

"Yeah, his real name is Tomarasiju-Tomarisju? Tamarsjiia- Tomarusiu?" Makeias said and looked at the big man.

The bearded man slowly shook his head in respons.

"I still can't pronounce it." Makeias said and picked his ear. "So I call him Tom-Tom."

The old man shook his head again.

"He is the patriarch and oldest member from that tribe I told you about. Don't let his old age fool you though. He has sharper instincts then all of them. The more superstitious from their tribe believe that he can see the future. Because it can at times seem like he can start reacting to things before they even happen." Makeias said and smiled at the old creature.

Tom-Tom slowly turned his head to Tatsumi. His blue eyes staring at the boy. " Oh yeah, Tom-Tom, this is Tatsumi. The boy I talked about."

Tom-Tom spoke in a low and raspy voice. "The ice-demon's breeding partner."

Makeias looked a bit annoyed but Tatsumi only chuckled. "Basically yes." he said with a smile. "Though I like to think that there is more to me than just that."

Tatsumi looked at the owl at the big man's hunched shoulders."But you sure have a strange pet."

"So you have noticed already?" Makeias said with a smile.

Tatsumi looked at the bird. It's big eyes were black with small shining spots in them. It looked like the owl's eyes were taken from a starry night sky. "That is not a normal animal."

"Correct." Makeias said and put a hand on the owl. Slowly patting it. "This is a biological teigu. And the biggest insult the imperial court has ever given me."

"Hmm?" Tatsumi gave the other man a questioning glance.

"Tatsumi, this is The ever knowing sleeper: Noctuaz. Also known as the world's only dysfuntional teigu. It was sent to me by the imperial court when I requested that they send me teigu users during my campaigns on the western borders."

"What does it do?" Tatsumi asked and eyed the the big owl.

"Well, as the name implies, it knows everything. And I mean that literally. Everything that has happend, is happening and is going to happen. No matter what the question is, this little guy knows the answer."

Tatsumi raised an eyebrow."That doesn't sound like a failure. It sounds like something you could control the world with."

"Yeah. You could probably conquer the entire world with just this owl. If he ever felt like telling you anything in a clear way."

"Ahh" Tatumi said. Realizing the problem.

"Everything this teigu tells you is extremly diffuse. I would like to say that it only speaks in riddles but that would indicate that there was a solution to deciphering his presentations. There isn't. Half the time his advice is impossible to understand and when he actually tells you about the future he does it in a way so that you only realize what he meant when it has already happened."

Tatsumi couldn't help but smile."So close yet so far away."

"Yeah. Which explains the insult. The imperial court has never trusted me. When we were getting hammered on the front, I requested support and reinforcement. I begged them to send me some teigu users. This was what I got in respons."

Makeias got a bitter expression on his face."A funny joke to those sitting in the warm halls of the palace. But I can promise you that the humor had worn off when we received it after losing two thousand men in three days. Defending our positions as they had ordered us." For the first time ever, Tatsumi saw how a hint of anger crept into Makeias expression."And yet they dare to reprimand me when I took the buisness of destroying their enemies into my own hands."

The general took a deep breath. Calming himself.

Suddenly the owl turned it's head to Tatsumi. In a shrill and squeeky voice it spoke to him.

"If you had chosen death then you would have lived. You changed your steps and the world started to spin diffrently."

Tatsumi stared at the bird. Baffled by it's sudden outburst.

Makeias smiled and shrugged. "Case in point."

The old man shook his head again.

"Anyway let's talk a little, Tatsumi." Makeias said and started walking down the corridor. Gesturing at Tatsumi to follow him.

* * *

Esdeath walked down on a balcony in the giant theater. Seething internally.

A simple meeting witth the other general had managed to turn this good morning sour. Somehow Makeias had manage to take control of the situation without doing anything. He had gone against her warning and been able to get away with it. Something that few people could do. Her anger grew as she thought about it.

The most infuriating part was that he had somehow managed to get Tatsumi on his side. He had made her own mate go against her. Why had Tatsumi chosen to take Makeias side in this? What did the pillager mean to Tatsumi?

She sighed angerly as she walked down to the first row of the audience seating on the balcony. Down on the stage, some sort of play was being performed but Esdeath had no interest in it at all. Her reason for coming was seated in the middle of the front row of the balcony. Surrounded by politicians. They were all talking quietly but immediately turned silent when Esdeath walked down beside them.

"Lady Esdeath." the prime minister said. Slightly suprised that she had come here so fast."I didn't expect you to come so quickly. I sent the summoning just an hour ago."

"I got some free time between two tasks. Besides, you wrote that it was urgent." Esdeath said. She had intended to make the prime minister wait while she played around with Tatsumi but now she might as well get this over with.

She looked at the politicians sitting next to him. "Get out."

The men started to look at each other and then at the prime mininster. Esdeath did not have patience to wait for them to reach the obvious right course of action. Her mood was far to sour for such gentleness.

"Either you leave through the doors or I will throw you off the balcony. Either way, you won't be here in ten seconds." she said in a calm voice.

That got them moving. The prime minister sighed deeply as the politicians he had been talking to started to run out of the theater in panic. Esdeath didn't give them a single glance. Walking over and sitting down beside the prime minister.

"I wish you wouldn't be so rash sometimes." The prime minister said and stroked his beard.

"So what was it that was so urgent?" she said. Cutting down any chances for small talk. Wanting to get this over with so that she could go back to Tatsumi.

The prime minister shook his head and then decided to turn to the matter at hand.

"The great general has finally decided to act."

Esdeath started to smile. Maybe there was a silver lining to this. "How?"

"When you return to your chambers you will find a letter from him. A letter that has been delivered in sectret. He is summoning all the military leaders in the capital to a secret meeting. Probably tonight."

"And those outside of the capital?"

"Letters has been sent to all three generals that are stationed outside of the capital. But they will never reach their destinations. The roads outside of the capital can be so dangerous for couriers, you know? Regrettably." The big man said with a smile.

"Certainly." Esdeath said and returned his smile. "Do we know why he is choosing to act now?"

"No. But it would seem that he has been gathering information about the trials of the betrayers who you uncovered information about when you removed the warden of the west from his office."

"I thought that you would try to be discreet when removing them?" Esdeath asked. More curious than annoyed.

"I have been. But Budo has for some reason been able to find out about them either way. It almost seems like has been aware of exactly where he should look."

"Looks like you have a leak somewhere then."

"It is unlikely. But I don't see how this could have happened otherwise. I will have to search through my ranks a bit." He said and looked down on the performance happening on the stage.

"So why did you summon me? I thought we were clear about how we would handle the great general if it came to this." Esdeath asked.

"It is not the great general that I want to talk about. It is the other one."

Esdeath's smile got a bitter tinge to it."I was actually talking to general Makeias right before I got here."

"A futile endeavour, I'm sure." The prime minister said and chuckled. "But we need to decide how we should handle him. Do you have any idea about the capabilities of his forces?"

Esdeath looked at the big man with a menacing smile."I do. Have you looked up his teigu for me?"

The prime minister nodded at her."I have. But there is not much to find out about it. He has kept it's abilities well hidden."

"Of course he has." Esdeath said. Her irritation at Makeias waking up again.

"As I said, it is a small knife lodged into his body. Just below the chest." The prime minister put his hands together in relaxed position. Just below his waist. "It is called "The all corrupting infection: Morbus". As the name implies, it's powers are linked to sickness and decay."

"Well, that suits him pretty well." Esdeath said.

The prime minister nodded. "I haven't been able to find out much about it's actual capabilities. But it is a powerful tool when fighting creatures of the flesh. Allegedly."

Esdeath sighed. "Do you have anything useful to tell me?" she said in a slightly irritated voice.

The prime minister looked at the young woman at his side. Sometimes Esdeath could be a bit difficult to deal with. He had to be careful with her at all times. She had always been relatively reliable but it was always worrying when her mood was sour. Since she could kill him with a finger. "Two things. First of all, your ability to freeze him should be fairly effective. Ice is one of the few things that can stop any infection or disease."

Esdeath looked at the big man."A bit ambiguous, are we?"

"If I seem unclear then that is because we don't have much details about Morbus. The second thing I have learned is that, while Morbus is a powerful weapon, it is also fairly self-destructive to the user. Corrupting the user's body in exchange for power."

"Satisfying to know. But it doesn't help me if it comes to fighting." Esdeath said.

The prime minister shrugged."My information network is superb. The only reason why we don't know more about the teigu is because Makeias has kept all his knowledge about this lost teigu to himself. What have you learned about his forces?"

Esdeath turned her gaze from him. Looking down at the play being performed on the stage. "I have read through several of his reports from the front lines. As well as the documentation of his army's movements on foreign soil."

The prime minister bent a bit forward and looked at Esdeath. "And what is your conclusion?"

"Well, as you know, his army suffered heavy casulties during it's last campaign. Losing a third of it's soldiers. And they have been very slow to refill their ranks. Right now, my own legions outnumber them two to one."

The prime minister leaned back into his chair again. The poor furnuiture creaking as he did."So it is of no concern to us?"

"They can't even get close to the offensive capabilities of my own army. If they face me and my forces on the field, they will lose. Quickly. Which is why they won't ever meet me there."

The prime minister raised an eyebrow at her.

"There is a reason to why they haven't been quick to refill their ranks after the last campaign." Esdeath went on. "Because the two thirds that survived it are now heavily specialized. And all new recruits have to be trained to match that level."

"Specialized in what?"

Esdeath looked over at the big man with a bitter smile. "Guerilla warfare. The reason why Makeias could ravage the foreign country for so long was because his army was basically demobilized. Acting in thousands of small units. Yet somehow they were still able to be synchronized in their attacks. The entire army mobilizing in a matter of hours and then disappearing just as quickly. I still haven't been able to find out how they could keep up that level of order and the communications required for it."

Esdeath's eyes returned to the play. "If they meet me on the field, they will be crushed. But they never will. That is not how they fight."

"That is certainly troubling to hear." the prime minister said and scratched his beard. "If such a huge force scattered like that, it would be extremly taxing to root them out. And they would be looting and pillaging our dear empire as we tried to exterminate them. Should Makeias decide to turn rogue."

"The pillager's forces lives up to his name." Esdeath said with an empty voice.

"But this makes our course of action pretty clear." The prime minister said. "When the meeting takes place, you will have to make sure that the pillager's loyalty is with us. Otherwise, it might be best for his services to the empire to come to an end."

Esdeath smile grew a bit wider. _Subdue or destroy._ This was why she liked to have the fat man as her ally."I will make sure to check where his loyalties lies during Budo's meeting. And if it is not with the empire then I will know what to do."

"Try to convince him to keep his convictions." The prime minister said in a concerned voice. "It would be a shame if the empire would lose such a big military resource."

"We will see what happens." Esdeath said and rose from her chair. "You should go and say your goodbyes to the great general. If he is having this meeting tonight, then I don't intend to let him see the morning."

"Such a shame. He was such a loyal warrior." The prime minister said with a malevolent grin.

"Yeah, ain't it." Esdeath said. Her own expression happy yet intimidating.

She turned around and walked out of the theater. Leaving the prime mininster to watch the show.

* * *

Tatsumi and Makieas walked through an inner yard in the capital filled with houses and people. Tom-Tom following behind them. It was almost getting close to midday and there were a lot of people walking around. The buisness in the capital reaching it's peak for the day. Tatsumi had an umbrella to protect him from the heavy rain but Makeias hadn't bothered with getting one. Since he already was drenched.

"Where had you been when we met you earlier?" Tatsumi asked. "You were already wet by then."

"I was visiting some of my forces outside of the capital during the night." Makeias lied. "The rain caught me a bit unaware."

"Really?" Tatsumi asked. Looking a bit sceptical.

"Really." Makeias said tiredly. "Anyway, you wished to talk to me."

"Yeah." Tatsumi said. His more serious mood returning. "And I think you know why."

"Ohh I can think of many reasons. Which one were you referring to."

"You know about my nightly visit to a certain military district. Don't you?"

"I do. Bellany told me some interesting things. Do you know her?"

"Only too well. I actually have a bone to pick with her." Tatsumi said. Once again reminded of the possible liability that Bellany represented. "I heard that she had fallen sick earlier but it seems like she made a speedy recovery."

"Well, something like that." Makeias said with a smile. Making Tatsumi give him a quesioning look. "But you don't have to worry about her anymore."

Tatsumi was about to ask Makeias to clearify but was interrupted as Makeias eyes widened slightly as he looked in front them. "What the..."

Tatsumi followed Makeias gaze and saw what he was reacting to. One of the palace's kennelmaster was walking past them with his dogs. Keeping them all in leashes. But at the back of the pack of dogs a rather distasteful sight met them. The results of Esdeath's symbolic punishment.

The man looked horrible. He was completly naked and covered in dirt and blood. Having many bite marks on his arms and legs. His hands and feet had been replaced with small wooden feet that had started to fall apart into bits. He moved by walking on all fours. Steadying himself by using his knees instead of the wooden replacement that his legs ended in. His knees were scraped and bloody as a result. His mouth was hanging open, revealing destroyed teeth and a missing tongue. His eyes vacant.

Makeias turned to the kennelmaster."What is the meaning of this?" he asked, sounding more than a little peeved. He was well aware that many slaves within the empire were horribly abused like this but he had never seen someone parade it around like this. At least not a civilian.

"I'm sorry, general. I'am not more happy about this than you are. But I have recieved strict orders to treat the man like this. I will be punished if I disobey."

"Ordered by who?" Makeias asked. Ready to overrule whoever had given the kennelmaster this order

"By lady Esdeath, sir"

Tatsumi didn't hesitate for a moment. He let go of his umbrella, drew his weapon and struck it through the crawling mans neck. Ending his misery before either the kennelmaster or his dogs could react.

Makeias looked at Tatsumi. Nodding at the younger boy as he rose up. He then turned his gaze to the kennelmaster."If general Esdeath gives you trouble for this then you can tell her to take it with me. Or even better, Tatsumi." he said and gestured towards the other boy before continuing his walk. Tatsumi falling in beside him after picking up his umbrella.

"Was that out of anger or mercy?" Makeias asked.

Tatsumi sighed."Mercy, general. I am not like Esdeath. Just as you have said before." he answered truthfully.

The older man nodded approvingly at Tatsumi and then went on. "So, to get back on track,"he said. "you have basically come here to make sure that I don't tell anyone about your nightly escapades."

"More or less, yeah. I also wonder why you haven't told anyone about it yet?"

"At the moment I don't stand to gain anything by tattling on you. I might have something to gain from not doing it though."

"Such as?"

"Information for example." the older man said with a smile and looked over at Tatsumi. "Tell me about what powers Esdeath's teigu have."

The underlying threat didn't need to be said. That had not been a question but an order. Tatsumi started to understand the situation. If the general was going to blackmail him with his knowledge then Tatsumi would play along. For now.

He gave the other general a quick summary of Esdeath's powers but left out some of her tricks and abilities. When he was done, the other general looked at him.

"Are you serious? Stop time itself? That has to be a joke."

"I can assure you that it is not, general."

"Damn... as if she wasn't tricky enough to deal with already." Makeias said and scratched the side of his head. _That is going to be difficult to counter_, he thought._ But not impossible._

"I told you that it is foolish to oppose her openly."

"Our convictions sometimes forces us to do foolish things. As I think you have been able to understand by now." Makeias said and shot Tatsumi a sly smile.

"You still haven't told me what your convictions are, general." Tatsumi stated.

"And neither will I. But I think I have started to grasp yours and I can assure you that they aren't the same as my own."

Tatsumi tensed slightly, which Makeias noted."But as long as you go along with what I say and do the things I will ask of you in the future, then nobody will have to know anything about your nightly escapades."

Tatsumi smiled. It seemed like the general only thought that Tatsumi wanted to sabotage the empire's proceedings. He hadn't realized how far-reaching the plan was. He hadn't realized that the military was about to fall apart. All because of Tatsumi.

"Blackmail, huh?" he said and looked at the taller man.

"Think of it more like something akin to "The enemy of my enemy is my untrustworthy ally."" Makeias said. Sounding rather amused. " But I must say, you are an intriguing one, Tatsumi. To think that our strongest warrior's own partner is still opposing her."

"I'am not trying to fight Esdeath. She will help me reach my goals. And I have a feeling she will enjoy doing it."

Makeias sly smile turned to Tatsumi. "So what then? You are no longer a little boy arriving from a small village, nor a member of night raid and the revolutiounary army anymore and not a loyal servant of Esdeath or the empire." Makeias mused to himself. "So what are you then Tatsumi?"

Tatsumi looked up at the rainy sky. Honestly thinking about the question. After some seconds a sad smile formed on his face. " Some marks aren't washed away that easily. Some morals don't fade." He sighed. "A tiger doesn't change his stripes, general."

Makeias looked at Tatsumi. Closely studying the younger man as Tatsumi turned his sad smile to Makeias.

"I am bent but not broken."

* * *

**Author's note:**

**A bit of a transistional chapter since we are starting to build up to one of the bigger moments in this story. It took me some time to think up the name of the teigus original to this. But in the end I went for simple latin descriptions. The all corrupting infection: Morbus and The ever knowing sleeper: Noctuaz.**

**A quick question: I have known ever since the third or the fourth chapter of this story that the name Esdeath is actually an incorrect translation of her name. Since her name sounds like Esdeath many translators made the mistake of believing that that was what the author of the manga meant. But it is not. Her name actually is just Esdese. Since it's letters are a play on words in japanese. **

**So if any of you readers want me to change her name then write it in a comment or a pm. If enough people want it to change then I will go back and correct her name in all released chapters and start calling her her real name from now on. Consistency is important. If you don't write anything then I will assume that you are indiffrent about it.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading. It's been quite a journey and I have enjoyed it a lot, thanks to you people reading it. Thanks for all the feedback and comments. I read every word you write. **

**As I wrote earlier. I have a lot of work on my hands right now so expect the next chapter to be released in 8-10 days. **

**Until then, I wish you a great day and hope that you take care of each other.**


	14. A call to arms

**Most people seemed indiffrent to the name change but a certain few wanted it to change and no one said that they preffered the old one. So I will start changing Esdeath to Esdese in all the old chapters. **

**Might take a little while though. The name will remain as Esdeath until I can replace every chapter with new editions. Consistency and all that.**

* * *

**A call to arms.**

Esdeath was already in the training hall when Tatsumi arrived. Sitting on a bench on the side with Incursio resting beside her. As usual, her presence changed everything around her.

The hall was mainly meant for fighting and weapon practice. A small group of people had gathered in the hall. Mainly soldiers and warriors. Wondering what Esdeath was doing there. Most were just standing on the sides now that she was in the hall. A few bold ones was fighting each other in front of her. Trying to show off their skills to her. She was watching a few of them but her mind was on diffrent things. Thinking about what would be the most enjoyable way to kill the proud great general.

Her eyes immediately moved to the door when Tatsumi entered. Her instincts perceiving his arrival some moments before he entered. She rose up and dusted of her small skirt before grabbing Incursio and walking towards him. Meeting Tatsumi in the middle of the room. Causing all the other fighters to scatter and move to the sides of the hall again.

When she got closer to him she drew the blade and threw away the teigu's sheath to the side. She then threw Incursio down into the floor beside her. Making the sharp blade pierce the wood. Leaving it standing up. She then walked and placed herself in front of the teigu. Tatsumi stopped when he was a couple of meters in front of her.

"Ok then, Tatsumi." Esdeath said and looked at him. Sounding rather excited. He could tell that she had been looking forward to this. "Here is how this is going to go down. If you can reach Incursio, you win."

"Win? I thought this was a punishment." Tatsumi asked with his hands in his pockets.

"It is." Esdeath said and gave him a harsh smile. "I will not be gentle with you, Tatsumi."

"Figured." he said and grinned grimly.

"But.." Esdeath said and gestured with a finger. "..this is also to check that your strength has fully returned. I will not let you touch Incursio until I am certain of that." she explained with closed eyes. "The harder you struggle the harder I will treat you. So I want you to stop if you notice that you haven't recovered completly. Okay?"

"Roger that." he said and stretched his arms. "Let's do this then."

"One thing first." she said and waved to him with a hand. "Come here."

Tatsumi knew what she wanted to do."You don't have to, Esdeath."

"Come here." she repeated patiently, waving with her hand for him to come closer.

"Fine" Tasumi said with a sigh. He felt a bit like a dog being called on as he walked up to her. When he got close she held up her arms in an open embrace. Which he obediently walked into. When he was close she wrapped her arms around him gently and started to tenderly kiss him.

She always did this before and after she punished him. Tatsumi thought that it almost seemed a bit insecure. Like she needed to affirm and reaffirm her affection towards him before and after she administered his punishments. Like she was afraid that he would forget that she loved him.

Just as he was starting to get into it as well and started to move his arms up around her, her own arms took hold of his shoulders. She then shoved him back so hard that he almost fell over. Making him stumble backwards.

When he regained his balance she smiled at him. She lifted up her hand and slowly moved her index finger back and forth. Gesturing for him to come at her.

Tatsumi decided to test out the speed in his legs first of all. He immediately bolted forward, sticking close to the ground. He made a couple of feint moves when he got close to her in hopes of making her react in the wrong direction. Then he threw himself past her side, staying close to the ground. Reaching out with an arm for Incursio.

She watched him with an amused expression until he was at her side. Then she moved. She kicked him in the side so hard that it sent him flying through half the room. Making him roll around a couple of times when he hit the floor.

Tatsumi gasped for air when he came to a halt. The kick had knocked the breath out of him. He actually thought that she had broken his ribs but noticed pretty quickly that she hadn't. But she had not been kidding when she said that she was not going to be gentle. He had not thought that his first attempt would succeed but he hadn't expected this kind of response. Seems like this really was a punishment after all.

He closed his right eye from the pain as he rose up. Esdeath's sharp eyes watching him. Her smile challenging him to try again. "Give me everything you have and are, Tatsumi." she said in a thick and husky voice. Referring to more than just this match.

Tatsumi took a stance. It seemed like his best chance would be to get her into the air. So that she couldn't alter her speed and direction so quickly. How he was gonna do that was another question. Since she only seemed to be intending to stand in front of Incursio. Letting him come to her.

He jumped forward. Flying towards her. In the last moment he kicked against her with his right leg. Putting all his strength in it. He knew that without Incursio, his body couldn't match hers in any way. He needed to put all his strength in his attacks if he wanted them to matter.

Esdeath didn't bother with meeting his kick. Moving half a meter back. Making Tatsumi kick the air. But when his leg had passed in front of her, she reached up and grabbed it's ankle with a hand. Making his body fall down on the ground as she held his leg up in her hand. He turned his head around and looked at her. Being met by an excited and ravenous smile.

Esdeath could see the fear in Tatsumi's eyes. That, combined with the the small redness on his cheeks and the slight scowl on his face made him look absolutely _delicious_ to her. She almost wanted to hear him beg.

She started to lift him up slightly. "Esdea-" Tatsumi began but then Esdeath swung his entire body over herself and smashed him down on the ground on her other side.

Tatsumi couldn't stop a small yelp from escaping his mouth when he was bashed into the ground. Landing painfully on his back. Once again losing all the air in his lungs. "You're being too harsh. You're gonna break me." he wheezed. The only response he got was a grunt filled with lust as she lifted his body again, smashing him down into the ground once more. But this time he was able to catch himself with his hands since he was facing the ground.

The moment he had landed she kicked him in the lower part of the stomach. Avoiding the more delicate parts of his anatomy with a few centimeters. Not wishing to damage his goods. The kick sent him rolling over the floor until he hit one of the walls. Lying face down.

A murmur went around among those watching. The warriors and soldiers were wondering if Esdeath was meaning to cripple the boy. She was giving him quite the beating. Not that anyone dared to step in or say a word. Rumors were running around that she had tortured five of her own soldiers to death just this week and few seemed to know why.

When Tatsumi started to raise himself up on shaky arms he noticed that Esdeath's white boots were standing just a couple of decimeters from his head.

"Esdeath..." he panted and looked up at her. She was looking down on him. Her smile calm while her eyes still showed hunger.

She bent down and grabbed his hair. She lifted his head up and looked at his face with satisfied expression. "Giving up already?"

Before he could stop himself, he smiled a grim smile at her. "Far from it. But if you keep pummeling me like this then I won't last long."

"It won't be a punishment if I am gentle."

"Say what you want, I can see that you are enjoying this."

"I never said that I didn't." she answered. "But I would enjoy it more if you had Incursio."

"Then give it to me."

Esdeath shook her head slowly. "This is a punishment. It's not about me enjoying myself. At least not when it comes to punishing you."

"I would prefer if we didn't have an audience. It is kind of annoying to have them watch how you mop the floor with me."

"Why?" Esdeath asked. Looking genuinly curious. "I could crush all of them just as easy. You are the most competent fighter in this room, aside from myself. And everybody knows that I am the strongest one between us."

Tatsumi didn't answer but simply looked at some of the people standing along the walls of the big hall. All eyes glued to the two of them.

Esdeath let out an annoyed sigh and shook her head. She let go of his hair and straightened up. "Everyone leave this room immediately" she shouted in her commmanding tone."I am reserving it for myself."

Everyone else in the room immediately started to leave without a single objection. Tatsumi slowly rose to a kneeling position in front of Esdeath as the room emptied. When everyone had left. Esdeath turned her eyes towards him again.

Before they could land on him, Tatsumi made his move. He kicked of against the wall behind him. Flying past Esdeath and towards Incursio.

"Oh, no you don't!" Esdeath exclaimed in a playful voice. Grabbing his coat behind him in an iron grip.

Tatsumi slipped out of the piece of clothing before it could slow his momentum. But he quickly realized that he was still too far away. Incursio was almost twenty meters from him.

Esdeath caught up with him by the eight meter. Coming up beside him. For a split second, Tatsumi looked at her. His slightly panicked expression met by a fierce grin and smiling eyes. Then she gave him a slap on the back. The force of it sending him down into the floor. Making him glide to a painful halt. When he started to rise up, Esdeath was standing in front of him with her arms crossed over her chest. Standing between him and his teigu.

He moved into a crouching stance. While he hadn't gotten any serious damage, he felt pretty damn beat up. And the pain was taking away from his energy. He needed to start making this attempts count.

"Don't tease me." Esdeath said when he didn't move. Sounding thrilled. "I know you got a lot more to give. Let me have it or I might be tempted to take the initiative here." she said with a threatening smile.

Tatsumi decided that it was time to take this to the air. He jumped up a couple of meters. Aiming to jump over her to get to the sword. Hoping that she would start following him so that he could outmanouver her after some time. Since he had no chance of doing it when she remained on the ground.

To his dismay, Esdeath didn't seem to have any intentions of following him into the air. She simply jumped a couple of steps backwards so that she stood where he was going to land. Right in front of Incursio. She smiled at him as he descended upon her. Looking genuinly happy. "I love you so much, Tatsumi." she shouted as he got close. Then she hit his incoming kick with the back of her hand. Swatting his body away like a fly.

But she didn't follow him this time. Allowing him to land on his feet a couple of meters away. He decided to try again immediately. Jumping at her. She remained at her position. Meeting his attack when he go close with enough force to send him flying back. This was repeated a couple of times as Tatsumi trid to goad her to jump up and meet him.

After the fourth time, Esdeath was starting to grow restless. She wanted more.

"Damn it..." Tatsumi panted. Smiling bitterly at her. "Why are you so goddam strong, Esdeath?" he said. Asking the question thousands wondered.

She looked at him for some moments and then slowly started to walk towards him. Her hips swaying with every step. "Because I want to be. Since I enjoy this. And since I enjoy this, I get better at it. Because I am always doing it."

Tatsumi leaped up against her. But this time he actually managed to avoid her counter. Managing to move the leg he was kicking with back just in time for het arm to strike air. Landing in front of her in a crouching position. Her amused eyes following him. He immediately directed an new kick towards the lower part of her legs.

"Then why do you like to dance with death so much?" he shouted. He knew that if she just stood still. He would be the only one left hurting from the kick. Since he didn't have Incursio. But he trusted that she would react by instinct.

Which she did.

Just as his kick was about to connect she jumped half a meter into the air while raising her legs. Avoiding his kick by instinct, even if it wasn't a threat. And now she was in the air and had now way to change her momentum for a second. He kicked off with the one leg he still had on the ground. Sending himself flying towards Incursio. He had to bet everything on this.

He reached out with an arm towards the teigu. But when he was less than a meter away, her hand grabbed his collar. Making him gag as it stopped his movement. He was turned around by the hand and suddenly Esdeath's face was right in front of his.

"Because it is fun." she snarled. Looking completly crazy. Her smile bestial and her eyes wide. She hit him in the side with the back of her hand. Sending him flying down on the ground again.

"And even if you might not like to admit it, you are the same as me." Before he was able to get up, she landed on top of his stomach. Straddling him.

"Even if you don't like it, you are a predator. There are few that can match you when it comes to killing or destroying."

He punched up against her face but she caught his fist in her hand. Her grip so hard that he felt like she was going to crush his fist to a pulp.

"But everything your good at.." she said and raised her free hand. Bringing it down in a brutal punch in his side. So hard that Tatsumi felt how his heart skipped a beat at the impact.

"Everything you can do..." she said and delivered another violent punch to his chest. Causing Tatsumi to involuntarily scream out. "I can do better!" she exclaimed. Her cheeks slightly red and her voice thick with fervor and desire.

She raised her hand again and Tatsumi brought his free arm up to defend his face. Closing his eyes.

But the punch never came. After a second he felt her warm and wet tongue trail over his lips. The punishment was over.

He sighed in relief and let his arm fall down to his side. Esdeath was bent forward over him. She brought her hands up and cradled his head as she licked and kissed his bruised face. She lay down on top of him.

"That was harsh." he said silently.

"I know." she said as her hands started to travel down on his body. Checking his wounds to see that none of the damage was too serious. "But you persevered. As I knew you would." She moved down a bit and pulled up his shirt. Wanting to take a closer look at some of the bruises. Tatsumi simply put a hand on her back as she examined him.

The fight had yet again reminded him of how destructive she was. She destroyed everything around her just by nature. "You are gonna kill me one day." he said in a sad voice. Fully serious. He knew that it was gonna end that way.

"Don't be silly." Esdeath said as she ran her fingers across one of his newly formed red marks. "Even if I might have gotten a bit... _passionate_ during your punishment, I was still in full control. I would never do anyhting to you that I didn't think you could recover from."

_You will kill me just by being yourself_, Tatsumi thought_. But it is that same nature that I am relying on to destroy the empire as well. Once I have put you in control of everything._

Sometimes Tatsumi doubted that even Esdeath could survive her own ideals. He had said this to her before but she seemed to be fully content with that. Preferring to live life the way she wanted. Even if it meant the she might meet death a little sooner. To Esdeath, it seemed foolish to compromise your life in order to prolong it. Everyone was going to die sooner or later. She would not let that dictate the way she lived.

But Tatsumi was still convinced that there was only one end awaiting those who could only define themselves by battle. Even if Esdeath was a special case. Considering that she had even bent time itself to her will.

He sighed heavily and sadly.

Esdeath looked up at him. Perceiving the grief in the sound. "What's wrong?" She moved her face up to his. "Don't be sad, Tatsumi. The punishment is over. I won't be hurting you anymore."

"My partner is a demon." he said and looked at her. His expression exhausted.

Esdeath felt a little bit of worry rise in her chest. A feeling that was very rare for her to experience. Had she hurt him too much? Had she lessend his love for her?

She reach down and snuggled her chin against the side of his head. "Does it hurt too much? Do you want me to carry you to our bed?"

"No. I'm fine" he said tiredly. Rising up to a sitting position. Esdeath rising with him. Standing on her knees.

"Are you sure?" she asked as he stood up. He was clearly hurting. "I can carry you to the jaeger's quarters to get something for the pain if you want?" she asked as she rose up herself. Frantically searching for a way to express her care for him. This was the only area in which she sometimes were unsure of what to do.

"No, thanks.. I will walk on my own." Tatsumi said in a somber voice. He turned around and started to walk away from her. Limping on his right leg. He walked over to Incursio and picked it up. After picking up the sheath that she had thrown away to a corner of the room, he started to walk out of the hall. Esdeath's eyes following him.

"Now that I have Incursio, I need to go and start to take care of my jaeger duties. I must have a ton of them piled up after being away for so long." He said in a heavy voice, without looking at her. The tragedi of his entire situation a bit to apparent for him at the moment.

For once, his sadness actually spread to Esdeath but not for the same reason.

She had concluded that she had definitely been too hard with him. She had no problem with hurting him when they were playing around or when she had him in her bed. But to her, the situation was much more delicate when she was hurting him as a military punishment. That was one of the few moments when he was treated just as everyone else of her underlings. The line between lover and pet gone. The only moment when it didn't seem like he was special to her.

And now it seemed to her like Tatsumi actually thought that was the truth. Like he no longer believed in her love. She stood there and watched him walk towards the door. Searching for a solution internally.

"I love you." she called out to his back. It sounded much more insecure and meek than she had intended.

Tatsumi couldn't get himself to answer. Not that it would be untrue to say that he loved her but the fact that he did was way too painful to admit right now.

She looked at his back with uncertainty. Waiting and hoping for a respons. When it didn't come her thoughts grew more desperate. When Tatsumi reached the door she panicked inside her head and did the only thing she knew how to do. Her body almost moving by itself.

As Tatsumi put his hand on the door handle, her hand grabbed his shoulder. She swung him around violently and grabbed his shirt, pushing him up against the wall beside the door. Lifting him until he was standing on his toes.

"Say that you love me!" she almost shouted and pressed her forehead down against his in a forceful way.

"Esdeath, stop this! Get off me." Tatsumi shouted and started to struggle.

Esdeath's free hand immediately moved up and placed itself against his chest, under his shirt. A threat against disobedience. "Say that you love me." she growled loudly. Tatsumi noticed that despite the fact she was holding him against the wall and pushing him down with her head, that still didn't sound like an order. It almost sounded like a plea. Aggressive and desperate.

He looked up at her angry eyes. "Fine. Fine." he shouted and swallowed. "I love you, okay? I shouldn't but I do." he shouted. Hating himself for saying it. Loathing himself since he knew that it was the truth.

By saying it, he made the entirety of the situation fall down on him. In all it's tragedy and sorrow. He might internally claim that he hated her but he knew that he also loved her at the same time. And it made him disgusted with himself. A part of him just wanted to die.

Almost all of his friends and loved ones were dead because of her. Definetly everyone who believed him to be a decent human being. And sooner or later she would kill him as well. Even though it would break her heart. And then she would die herself. The horrible effect of her ways coming to conclusion. And why did that bother him so much? Why didn't he want her to suffer and die?

"Tatsumi..." Esdeath said and slowly let him down. Noticing how upset he was.

He turned his head to the side. "I'm sorry... I just.. it just.. " he said, clenching his teeth. Tears starting to flow down his face. His constant facade momentarily disappearing. Briefly showing what always lurked beneath. "...it just hurts so much." he sobbed.

"Then why didn't you tell me so when I asked you?" she exclaimed with furious worry. Her hand's movements turning gentle and caressing. Misunderstanding, thinking that he was talking about the beating she had given him. A pain that Tatsumi barely noticed right now. "Don't you **ever** hide your pain from me. No matter the source of it." she said. Now sounding upset herself.

She bent her head down and kissed him, wrapping her arms around him. Tatsumi didn't even struggle against it. Her kisses and caresses were slow and tender. Cuddling and warm. Driven by passion but not lust. He answered to it almost immediately. Using the love she was giving to steady himself in his weakened state. Allowing him to push these honest feelings back down into himself.

Tatsumi slowly fell down with his back against the wall. Esdeath following him down. Standing on her knees, bending over him.

They stayed like that for almost forty minutes. Kissing and hugging. Breathing each others breath and looking into each other's eyes. Until Tatsumi's moment of weakness had passed and Esdeath felt reassured that things were as they should be again. By then she had licked up all his tears. Metaphorically comsuming his sadness.

She held his hand a little too hard for comfort as they then walked to the jaeger's quarters to get him something for the pain.

* * *

The rain blew heavily against the windows of the large room in Makeias's quarters. Filling the relatively silent room with the sound of it.

The room was filled by a colorful group of people of about ten people. All standing gathered around a large round table. On the middle of the table lay Budo's letter. Summoning Makeias to a secret meeting in six hours.

"This is way too damn early." Makeias said in a grim voice. He stood hunched over the table. Both his hands placed upon it.

"Too early! Too early!" the teigu in the form of an owl squeaked. Sitting on Tom-Tom's shoulder, who was standing beside him.

Makeias looked at his gathered friends and warriors. From Tom-Tom's sad blue eyes, to the resolute green eyes of Kai, the man that was monitoring his forces, to the furious brown eyes of Liza. Angry at the world for how it had treated her and her little brother. Annoyingly enough, the unpredictable little girl was also the best fighter under his command, Makeias reflected.

"Noctuaz has whispered of this for months." Tom-Tom said. Breaking the momentarily silence with his low and raspy voice.

Makeias gave the old giant an annoyed expression. "Let say that this is the day of the splintering, which we have no way to confirm, then what has Noctuaz told us about what is to come?"

"If today is what the teigu has been calling the day of the splintering then a time of fire and ruin awaits us. A time when only strength will diffrentiate those who live and those who die." Tom-Tom answered.

Kai, the young armor-clad man that served Makeias as the main administrator of his forces, picked up the letter. "That sounds like a pretty accurate description of how the empire works right now." he said and read through the message once again.

"I think the teigu refers to strength in a more direct way. Not just the diffrence in power and influence." Tom-Tom said and looked at Kai.

"Which we have no way to confirm or deny." Makeias sighed and straightened up. "Noctuaz once again showing why it is called the most useless teigu in the world."

"So what do we do now?" Tom-Tom asked Makeias. "Can we ignore this summoning?"

The armor-clad youth spoke up before Makeias. "That is too risky. If Budo's side comes out on top they will most likely call us traitors to the empire if we are absent."

"Why do we care?" Liza said and looked at the boy with her usual irritated expression. Her head barely reaching above the table. "Are you scared that there will be more fighting, Kai?"

The young man stiffened up. His armor clinking slightly. "When you grow older, you will learn that there is such a thing as responsibility towards your subordinates." he said with a disdainful voice.

"Sounds to me like you're just scared!" the little girl provoked."Aren't we traitors already? This battle will come sooner or later." Liza said. Crossing her arms across her chest. Proving once again that she was wiser than her years.

"It's too damn early." Makeias repeated. "Besides, it doesn't matter. If Budo is summoning us for the reason we think he is, then Esdeath will most likely kill him."

"Then should we take his side in this?" Tom-Tom asked. Leaning on his tall staff with both his hands. "Budo's power is renowned. It might be our best chance to slay the ice-demon."

"Maybe." Makeias said. He looked over at Kai. The young man had short black hair and attentive, stern eyes. He was well trained and had a red cloak flowing down from his shoulders. "If we were to give the order today, would you be certain that we would maintain control over the army?"

Kai shook his head. His armor rattling slightly. "We need another month, at least. There are too many officers and sergants whose allegiance I haven't been able verify yet."

"How big would the risk be for defection if we still went ahead with everything right now?" Makeias asked.

"I would not advise it, general." Kai answered in a hard voice. "While I can not give you any precise estimates in this moment, I can promise you that if we start enacting everything right now, there will be insubordinations in our ranks. I need more time to weed the unloyal ones out from positions with power."

Makeias nodded slowly. "Depending on how this goes, we might have to give the order tonight either way." Makeias said and walked over to one of the windows. Looking out at the rain. Unwilling to show his subordinates how anxious he was about this.

"So you intend to go to this meeting then?" Tom-Tom asked.

"We have to. As you said, this might be a chance. And if it is not, then a huge power change within the empire is going to occur. And we will need to know about how it turns out immediately." he shook his head. "I will need to go myself. The great general summoned me by name. It would awake suspicion if I sent someone else in my place."

"Who shall join you?" Tom-Tom asked.

"Only you and some of yours. Bring some of the fastest and most steadfast that you have. I have a feeling that we might need them." he said and scratched his mid-section. His wound was itching horribly. He wondered if Morbus could detect what was going on.

"As you say." the old man answered.

Makeias took a deep breath. "You will never hear me say this again, so this is your only chance." he said in a somber voice. "The door is right there.". He pointed at the door leading out of the room without turning towards any of them.

"Meeting me has caused you all ruin and suffering. I know that I have made you all promises of compensation in diffrent ways. But if you choose to leave me now, I will not hold it against you. Cause make no mistake, if we make the wrong choice tonight, then most of us in this room will be dead within a week or two."

The big owl on Tom-Tom's shoulder raised it's head and screamed in it's shrill and squeaky voice. "Dead! Dead!"

The room was silent for some moments.

Tom-Tom looked around among those standing in the room. Nobody moved. His eyes finally landed on Liza. The angry little creature nodded to him.

The old man turned to Makeias's back. "We have laughed, we have loved and we have lived. No one here would have regrets if we die trying, Makeias."

Makeias smiled out through the window. "I guess we will go to hell together then." He turned around and smiled at them. "Go. Return to your positions. And keep your ears open for any signal that I might send."

"Yes, sir!" the room answered and started to move out.

"Kai." Makeias called out before the young man had left the room.

He turned around. "Yes, sir?"

"I want you to leave the capital and go the army's main encapment. Continue your work from there."

"Of course, general. But why?"

"You know what to do if I die tonight." Makeias said looked at him with an empty face. "Right?"

He saw how emotions welled up in the boy's eyes. Seeing that he understood the insinuations. Then a grim and resolved grin formed on Kai's face. "Unleash the wolves."

Makeias returned his sad and dark smile."Leave nothing but ashes."

His subordinate seemed like he wanted to say something but couldn't find the words. His emotions getting in the way. After some seconds he straightened up and saluted his commander. Makeias nodded at him and he turned around and walked out of the room.

Only Liza and Tom-Tom remained. Makeias gave Liza a questioning look. The little girl met his gaze with fury.

"You promised that you would never touch Jack." she said in a controlled tone. Makeias would have preffered it if she had been screaming. Now she was harder to gauge.

"I don't believe that I have done anyhting to your little brother, Liza." he said and put his hands in his pockets.

"You let him join Tom-Tom's freak team."

"Did I? I had no idea that he had joined." he lied.

Liza looked at him for some moments. "If you hurt Jack, I will kill you."

A part of Makeias wanted to ridicule her but this was not the time. He simply nodded. She glared at him for some more moments and then turned around and stormed out of the room. Looking way more fearsome than any eleven-year-old should be allowed to look.

When she had left Makeias sighed. "She is older than her years." he said bitterly.

"Her life has forced her to grow up quickly." Tom-Tom said. "You will have to tell her sooner or later. Her little brother is the only one who has shown compatibility with the teigu. He will need to be trained and conditioned. Soon."

"Yeah, she will love hearing that we are gonna brainwash the only person she loves."

"You can't keep this from her. She will find out sooner or later." Tom-Tom said.

Makeias nodded."We will cross that bridge soon enough. Now, we have a meeting to attend to."

* * *

Wave was struggling to get closer to Kurome as they walked behind Esdeath through the palace, Tatsumi walking a bit closer to their commander. There were only the four of them in the entire corridor. Due to the fact that it was way past midnight.

Wave wanted to walk beside Kurome in a little more intimate way than just as fellow subordinates. But he was unsure of how to do it without it becoming an awkward situation. Despite how perceptive she were, Kurome could still be pretty dense when it came to these sort of things sometimes.

Just the other day he had tried to put his hand over hers while they were sitting in one of the libraries and she had loudly asked him what he was doing. When he later had explained it when it was just the two of them she had wondered why he hadn't just told her that he wanted to hold her hand.

Wave was certain that she had noticed that he was trying to get closer to her right now but he didn't think that she understood why. He wished that Tatsumi could have been able to give her a push in the right direction but his otherwise helpful friend seemed to be lost in deep thought.

Tatsumi had recovered completly from his momentary relapse earlier. After he and Esdeath had gone to the jaeger's quarters and gotten him some painkillers, Esdeath had relieved him of all his duties for the day. So he had walked up to their chambers while Esdeath had went on with her duties. When he arrived to their living quarters he had laid down on a big sofa in one of the rooms. He had seen Budo's letter lying in the entrance hall but he already knew what it's message was. He knew what the night would bring. He wanted to regain as much strength as possible before then.

He had been resting there for almost three hours when he heard how Esdeath returned in the other room. She had some soldiers with her that she gave some instructions. From what he could hear, she had finished her duties at an extraordinary pace and then canceled the few things that she couldn't speed up. When she had sent the soldiers away, he could hear how she opened the letter from the general.

After that she had started to wander through the rooms in her big quarters. Searching for him. When she found him lying in the sofa she had walked up and sat down on it. She had then unlaced her boots and taken them off and without a word she had then crawled up and laid down behind him. Wrapping her arms around him, spooning him from behind. Her grip a bit too fierce to be considered cuddling. It seemed like he really had managed to get her worried in the training hall.

They had been laying like that for a long while before they had started talking. Esdeath beginning by whispering sweet words into his hair. Telling him that he was the only creature in the world that she loved. Telling him that she would protect him from everything that hurt him. Telling him that he was hers.

After a while Tatsumi had answered in kind. He knew what was coming tonight and he wanted their relationship to be steady by then. Or at least that was the excuse he used.

Tatsumi had dozed off after some time and when he woke, Esdeath had brought food that she had made for him. Suprisingly enough, Esdeath was actually a rather competent cook. Having learned the skill during the years she had lived alone after her tribe died but before she joined the military.

He had let her feed him as she asked him if there was anyone who was hurting or threatening him. She wanted to prove her love to him by destroying something or someone for him. She wanted to physically protect him. But he didn't give her any names. Knowing that her anger would be directed at the only source she knew. The great general Budo. He wanted all her wrath to be directed at that man tonight.

After they had eaten she had crawled back to her original position behind him. They had been lying in that sofa until the time came for them to get ready to leave. The gash in their relationship had been completly closed by then. Everything was almost back to normal. For the time being.

And now they were walking towards Budo's meeting through the long silent halls of the palace. Together with Wave and Kurome. Esdeath had opted to take them with her as well, for some reason. The four of them were the only ones who were attending this meeting from her forces.

They walked down under the main barrack belonging to Budo's imperial guard. Esdeath leading the way, down many corridors and stairs, not meeting with a single soul as they descended towards their destination. Only the sound of rain and the howling of wind filling the empty halls. The storm that had rolled in over the capital the day prior still growing strong.

They finally arrived at their destination. It was a relatively small and modest door. Not at all the usual grandeur that was on display when the leaders of the empire met. They could all hear the faint buzz of a crowd coming from the other side of it.

Esdeath stopped in front of it and turned around towards them. "Okay, listen up." she said in her usual commanding tone. "The great general Budo has summoned a secret meeting with the leaders of the military. It is our job as jaegers to make sure that there isn't any funny business going on during this meeting."

Wave seemed slightly suprised. "Do you think the great general suspects any treason within the empire?" he asked and looked at her.

"We will see what happens." Esdeath said and returned his gaze. "But be on your guard. I don't need to warn you that the military leadership sports some rather competent warriors. If things turn violent, then I want you three to stay together and work as a unit . Watch each others back, do you understand? There are not any run-of-the-mill opponents waiting for us behind this door."

"Yes, general!" Kurome and Wave said.

Tatsumi moved a little closer to Esdeath. "Do you think that this will come down to violence."

She smiled at him. Her expression calm and content yet bereft of warmth or sympathy. "We will see." she repeated.

He knew what she was intending to do. But he wanted to urge her on a little bit more, just to be sure. He took a small step forward and gave her a small peck on the lips. He then looked her in the eyes and whispered so only the two of them could hear. "Crush them."

He was about to move his head back when her hand grabbed the back of his hair and pushed him back to her mouth. Shoving her tongue down his throat and licking his lips.

Wave watched the two of them. Feeling happy that that everything between them seemed to be alright again when he felt how Kurome's small hand grabbed his own at his side. He looked over at her but she wasn't meeting his gaze. Staring emptly in front of her. She could feel the immense danger that waited on the other side of the door. "Don't die on me. Okay?" she said silently.

Wave felt warmth fill his chest. He squeezed her hand in his own. "Never." he whispered back.

Esdeath pulled Tatsumi's face away from her own. Her expression as crazy as the one she had given him in the training hall. Showing all of her white sharp teeth in a feral grin while her eyes were wide and joyful. "Let's kill them all!" she growled lowly and stared into the eyes of her lover. All questions about how Tatsumi could be so certain about what was happening forgotten in the excitment of the moment. Only fueled on by knowing that he wanted her to do it.

Tatsumi smiled and nodded at her. In this moments, her intentions and nature lined up perfectly with his goals. For once, they felt like one.

She let go of him and turned around. She smashed open the door with an arm and then calmly walked into the room that had now turned completly silent. The other three following right behind her.

It was not a small room but it still couldn't be called a hall. It was a modest room without furniture. Dimly lit up by torches hanging on the walls. But the room was full of people. To the point were it was almost overcrowded. Everyone shuffling and moving to get out of Esdeath's way as she moved towards the middle of the room where a big round table had been set up.

Tatsumi looked around the crowd as he followed Esdeath with Wave and Kurome. Almost everyone here held some position of power. The great general had summoned every military leader in the capital that he thought that the prime minister didn't control. He could see the captain of the city watch. As well as the main administrator over the military's intelligence and postal network.

He could even see Izou, the samurai-styled teigu user, standing in the back of the room. Which was a mistake since Tatsumi knew that Izou belonged to the prime minister. Just as all other survivors from Wild hunt.

Esdeath lazily strolled to the table. Swinging her hips and looking dangerously seductive. Enjoying the excitment that being in the center of attention brought her. She had always been a show off.

The silence in the room was broken by the mocking voice of Makeias. "My god! Is there ever a situation that you can walk into without making the mood so much warmer, ice-queen? Just seeing you warms my heart."

He was waiting at the table with Tom-Tom standing behind him along with some other giant and thin warriors. Makeias was wearing his battle attire. His hands in his pockets behind the ruined cloak that reached down to the floor. He had two halberds strapped across each other on his back. Long black staffs that turned to blades after two thirds of their lengths. Tatsumi quickly noticed that the black blades of the weapons were a bit too shiny. Making him believe that they were coated in some sort of liquid.

"I wasn't sure if you would be here, pillager." Esdeath exclaimed. She seemed genuinly happy that he was. Though Makeias himself wasn't sure if he liked that. "I had been told that you worked with the politicians of the imperial court during most nights."

"Well yeah, but I think they can manage without me for just one night. That job is just a lot of greetings, small talk and... _handshaking._" he said with a smile as he scratched his chin. Esdeath nodded at him.

"Well then." Budo's voice echoed through the room. The crowd parted for him as he walked up to the table. A big group of his own men following behind him. "I don't think that it is wise to wait any longer, so let this meeting begin." he said. Loud enough for everyone in the entire room to hear it. The other two generals looked at him.

He walked up to the table. He was holding a big folder in his right hand. "First of all, I would like to thank you all for coming. I know that this meeting is not standard protocol so I ask you to bear with me for a little while. This is quiet important, as I stated in the letter."

A small mumur went through the gathered crowd. Esdeath crossed her arms over her chest with a smile and Makieas remained motionless.

The great general took a deep breath. "I am the great general. As you all now. That title places duties on me. Towards the emperor but also towards the empire itself. I have done everything in my power to uphold these duties. As my family has for generations. And I will be the first to admit that I have failed."

He looked around at the people in the room. "All of you know what I am talking about. Especially you who have been in the empire's service for a long time. During my watch, this once proud and just nation has become a corrupt and unfair shell of what it once was. Punishing it's own citizens for merely living on it's ground. Killing it's own loyal servants for no other crime than being loyal to it. I will carry the shame of allowing this to happen with me to my grave. But I will not allow this to continue anymore."

He threw the folder on the table. It's papers falling out across it.

"These are copies of some of the proof I have gathered during these last months. And it all points to one man. The prime minister!"

A murmur went through the gathered crowd. The few who hadn't yet realized why they were here now understood what was going on.

"Just during this last week, the prime minister has had fifty diffrent politicians and military leaders framed, trialled and executed. Without even letting me know that leaders from the military that I command were on trial for treason. Not even noticing me that he had executed my men."

He gestured towards the papers now lying on the table. "These papers prove that the prime minister had them all framed for their supposed crimes. This is the only proof we have. Since the imperial archives have been burnt down, it has been almost impossible to disprove that these men were traitors. Which makes the timing of the fire very suspicious. But I have managed to prove that some of the evidence put against them were falsified."

He put a big hand down on the table."And this is just the tip of the iceberg. As some of you know." He raised his voice a little bit. "Subordinates. Soldiers. Warriors and comrades. Servants of the empire. This has to stop!"

The crowd murmured approvingly. Many heads were nodding and most in the room seemed to be agreeing. Tatsumi wasn't suprised. The great general had always had much more support within the military than the prime minister.

"All of you in this room has taken and given lifes for this nation and it's people. You have been forced to kill when you thought it was wrong and you have been forced to show mercy when you thought it unjust. Yet you have done it. For the sake of those we protect, for the sake of our families, for the sake of our people, for the sake of the empire. We have done our duties and made the sacrifices necessary for the empire to go on. Yet now, all those sacrifices are being spat upon by those currently in control of the empire."

The murmurs grew louder. "It must be stopped!" someone in the back shouted.

The great general straightened up from the table."Fellow soldiers. What I request of you is nothing short of breaking military law. I sincerly apologize to each and every one of you for requesting this but this is the only road left to me."

The great general took one last deep breath before taking the final step. He shouted the last part of his call to arms.

"I hereby declare a coup against the current imperial court! Join me in overthrowing the prime minister that has made us ashamed of who and what we are! And then, we can together return this empire that we have bled for to it's former glory!"

The room erupted into a roar of approval. Men applauding and others shouting the great general's name. Led by the leaders of the imperial guard that stood behind him. "It's about damn time!" the leader of the city watch shouted. And the main adminstrator of the intelligence network looked like someone just had offered him a chance to revive a beloved son from the dead. Even Wave started to applaud. Some of the Makeias men were applauding politely but most were staying relatively calm. But they were the only relatively silent people in the room.

They and one more.

"So it is treason, then." Esdeath's sweetest voice called out. The entire room growing silent in a second. Everyone looking at Esdeath. She smiled her self-confident smile. Her hands on her hips. She tsked at Budo. "Great general, I am disappointed. I thought you would know better." she said. Sounding dangerously excited.

Tatsumi looked at her from behind. _Everything had worked out as planned._

When he had been away from the capital for two weeks on his long mission he had planted the last of the false evidence and made all the preparations necessary. He had finished his actual mission in three days. Which had had the unfortunate side-effect of having Leone getting caught by Esdeath. The final part of it had been to hide the "connections" and "proof" on the manor belonging to the warden of the west. Which had been an easy thing to do for an highly trained assassin armed with an teigu capable of invisibility.

Then he had returned and waited for the warden of the west to be revealed. An easy thing for Tatsumi to make happen since the warden was the only real traitor among those that he had framed. Having worked with the revoloutionary army many times, in secret.

Esdeath was finally sent away to kill the warden. And while she was away he had burned the archives. Making it almost impossible for the framed people to prove that the accusations that would come were wrong. Since no documentation of the last years remained. Esdeath had then returned from killing the warden. Bringing his planted "connections" with her. Making the prime minister believe that there was a network of traitors working within the empire that he had missed. And then the prime minister had started to deal with these people that he thought were traitors. Unaware that they had been framed by Tatsumi.

Then, the last part of it all was to make sure that Budo knew what the prime minister didn't. That these people were framed. He had managed to do so by the letter delivered by Wave. Which he had managed to give to the blue haired boy just before Esdeath had interrupted them during training and restrained him for accusations about Bellany's murder. Which had proved to be false.

Then Budo had of course drawn the logical conclusion, that the one who who raised the accusations were the same one who had planted the evidence, the prime minister. In the letter, Tatsumi had even written down how to distinguish that the evidence was planted.

And now the great general was using it to overthrow the prime minister. Which could only get one response.

He looked at his lover's well formed back with a smile.

_But that is your mistake, you pathetic excuse for a minister_, Tatsumi thought. _Esdeath isn't your trump card, she is mine!_

Tatsumi had actually found the great general speech to be rather admirable. But he had since long abandoned any hope to redeem or correct the empire. Those naive thoughts had died with his friends. Now he just wanted to watch it all burn down to ashes.

_Go! Complete the first half of the plan!_ ,he screamed internally to his lover. _Take conrtol of the entire military. And then they will all suffer as your ideals turns order into anarchy._

The great general looked at Esdeath with unconcealed contempt and hostility. His arms crossed over his chest. "General Esdeath. I always knew that you worked closely with the prime minister but I never thought that you would steep so low as to stab the military in the back. But I guess I shouldn't have expected more from a violent savage that takes traitorous assassins into her bed."

"Oho." Esdeath said. Her tone growing more threatening. "Not only insulting me but my partner as well. I will make this hurt for you." she said and put a hand on the hilt of her weapon. "Great general Budo. I hereby charge you with high treason." she called out loudly. "By the power bestowed upon me by my rank I sentence you to death."

The great general put down his arms to his sides. His fists closed. Makeias stood absolutely still. His eyes traveling back and forth between Esdeath and the great general.

"But then again, you were once my superior" Esdeath said with a smile. She bent forward slightly and reached out with an open hand to the great general. Her other hand still holding her sheated weapon. "Surrender now and I might make your end easier. Might."

The room was completly silent. Nobody said a word. As the fate of the explored world hanged in the balance.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**I am somewhat suprised that I managed to get this out on time. **

**It was a bit harder to write. This chapter was a bit more emotional than some others and I had to struggle to make that translate well. We will see if I succeeded.**

**That and the fact that I wanted to summaries the plan so far in Tatsumi's head. Almost every chapter has clues hidden about what has been going on but I wanted Tatsumi to connect it all in his head before moving on the the next stage. I also wanted to showcase the change in Tatsumi a little bit. Tatsumi in the manga is naive but still wishes to save the people of the empire. Tatsumi in this story has become a more tragic figure. Shrewd and smart, but only wishes for the destruction of every part of the empire. **

**I also wanted Esdese have a moment of uncertainty with Tatsumi. Those are always hard to write without going out of character with her.**

**Once again, thanks a lot for your support, comments and so on. Really appreciate it. This and the following chapter were moments I had planned from the start but honestly thought that I would never get around to. But because you people have shown interest in it, the story has and will move on.**

**I will be going through old chapters and changing everything to Esdese and correct old mistakes. With that in mind, the next chapter should be released in about 7-8 days.**

**Have a nice day and take care of each other!**


	15. The fall of duty

**Two days later than promised. Sorry about that. The name change is live.**

* * *

**The fall of Duty.**

The rain kept falling over the capital. The storm that had been raging for two days seemed to be at it's peak during this night. It's winds strong and it's thunder booming. Driven by both natural forces as well as the power of Adramelech.

"Is that all you got?" Esdese shouted as she avoided yet another beam of lightning that flew down from above. Moving at a breakneck speed along the empty street. Staying close to the ground.

The fight between the two generals had taken them outside of the palace. The room they had been in had been destroyed in an instant as Esdese summoned a barrage of giant ice spears flying towards Budo's side of the room. Killing a third of the attending warriors and soldiers in a second. Not caring much about if they were on Budo's side or not in this. But the great general had not fallen from that attack. Budo had then answered in kind and soon enough they had blown through enough walls and rooms to arrive outside of the palace walls. Now fighting far away from the palace itself.

Everyone else in the room had either escaped or followed their commanders. The jaegers and Budo's imperial guards following the battle from a distance.

Esdese moved in a zigzag pattern. Keeping a hand on her cap and the other holding her drawn weapon. Closing in on Budo who was currently standing on a rooftop a hundred meters away. She could have closed that distance in a second but she was forced to avoid all the projectiles and attacks he was throwing at her. Destroying the street all around her.

After some time of avoiding and dodging attacks, Esdese decided to stop the annoying bombardment. She called upon the power in her blood and summoned a giant globe of ice and sent it flying towards the great general. Momentarily stopping the bombardment as the great general was forced to move away.

He made a long jump over a couple of houses. Flying towards another roof. The giant ice ball smashing into the house behind him. Crushing it to debris and moving on. Destroying a couple more houses before coming to a halt. The great general watched the damage as he landed. Troubled by the destruction.

He managed to put both his feet on the new rooftop before Esdese was behind him. Spinning through the air to get more power to a kick she was directing at his head. The great general did manage to block the kick in time but the force of it sent him gliding to the side. Leaving deep marks on the rooftop as his boots went through bricks and wood.

Before he had come to a halt,Esdese sent a dozen of thin and sharp ice lances after him. The great general quickly realized that he would not be able to block them all nor did he have time to shoot them away with his teigu. So he stopped pressing his legs down into the roof and simply let his momentum carry him off the rooftop. The ice lances flying above his head. Missing it with less than a centimeter. Flying across the street before lodging themselves into the house on the other side as Budo landed down on the street.

Esdese calmly walked to the edge of the rooftop and looked down on him. Her smile relaxed and cold.

"Do you have no regard for innocent bystanders?" the great general shouted angrily.

Esdese slowly shook her head at him while staring him in the eyes. Challenging him in any way possible. "Do you honestly believe that I would care about collateral damage at this point?"

"I always knew that you lived for fighting, Esdese. But I never thought that it would go so far as to destroy your sense of loyalty."

"Oh, I am a very loyal creature." Esdese said as her smile got a mocking tone to it. "I just never gave my loyalty to you."

"Does military ranking mean nothing to you?" Budo shouted.

Esdese shrugged."I guess I cared a little bit. Since I haven't tried to pick a fight with you before. Even after you started to annoy me by insulting my mate. But I am happy that you have given me this opportunity to face off against you. I will make sure to... _reward_ you plenty for that. " She couldn't wait to humiliate and degrade the great general after she had beaten him. She had so many enjoyable ideas of what she would do to him if he survived this fight.

The great general raised his arms and launched an orb of lightning at her. But the attack was way too slow. Esdese could see where he was aiming as soon as he raised his arms and jumped to the side.

"So you pledged yourself to that wretched prime minister instead? What rewards did he offer you, Esdese? How much did your dignity cost?" Budo shouted as he directed another projectile at her. His expression filled with anger.

This time Esdese jumped from the rooftop. Flying through the air above the general. Aiming to land at the rooftops on the other side of the street. As she flew over him, she swinged her open hand through the air. Freezing the raindrops above her and sending them flying down towards the great general as she landed on the roof on the other side of the street. Creating a blizzard of ice needles.

The great general was forced to call down another blast from the sky on topp of himself. Vaporizing all the ice above him before it hit him. But then Esdese was upon him again.

Suddenly appearing some mere meters from his side. "Wrong." she shouted with a smile and swung her sword at him. Which he managed to block with an arm. Esdese's blade leaving a dent in Adramelech's gauntlet.

"This battle is all the reward I needed." she shouted as she started to swing at him. He was able to keep up with her sword by using both his arms to block her incoming attacks. But only barely. "And I will only continue to work with the prime minister as long as he lets me do what I want."

She was having a bit of a hard time trying to push the great general back. His strength was about the same as her own so her quick and swift hits was not driving him back. But she was faster. She drove her long weapon at him and he brought up his right arm in order to block it. But when he did, her free hand came up and grabbed his hand. Grabbing hold of it in an almost gentle grip.

She smiled and looked at him. For a split second, they just stared at each other. Then the great general tried to pull back his arm as fast as he could.

But not before Esdese froze it solid in a block of ice. She did not manage to close her hand and shatter his arm before he pulled it back though. Jumping a couple of meters back in order to get away from her. But she followed this time. Intending to make him suffer now that he couldn't use one of his arms to block. The great general immediately realized that he would be unable to keep up with her without both his arms. He decided to deny her that possibility entirely.

As soon as Esdese got closer, Budo called upon the power of his teigu and once again brought down a powerful lightning strike from above. Directly into himself. The radius of the strike this time was so big that Esdese had to jump backwards to not get caught up in it. The blast almost growing as wide as the street itself.

When the lightninng had vanished, Budo's right arm was free from the ice. He seemed to have been able to use his teigu to get rid of it.

Esdese couldn't help but smile. "Impressive." she praised. "It seems like you will be able to entertain me for a little while longer."

"General Esdese." Budo said and let his arms fall down to his sides. "I now realize that your existence is far too dangerous to continue. There will never be any peace for as long as you live. You are too bloodthirsty and too powerful. In that sense, this might actually be an opportunity."

He smashed his fists together. Charging up Adramelech. "I will not allow you to live through this."

"Big words. Let's see if you can live up to them." Esdese said and jumped high up into the air. Taking the initiative and summoning a blizzard partly made of huge man-sized ice blocks and long thin ice spears. Sending them all down towards the great general in diffrent speeds. Crushing the houses around him. Causing a huge cloud of dust to rise as the ice destroyed everything in the vicinity of the great general.

When she was up in the air she took a short moment to glance to her right. She could see her subordinates fighting, a kilometer away. Jumping around on the rooftops. They seemed to have engaged with some of Budo's imperial guard. She wasn't too worried. She knew that the leaders within the imperial guard didn't stand a chance against her jaegers. They could handle themselves.

Now that she was up in the air she could also feel something else. Trained eyes focusing on her from somewhere unseen. She could feel his presence but she could not quite tell where he was. But his aura was unmistakeble. The pillager was watching them from afar. Monitoring the battle from somewhere hidden.

Esdese guessed that he was waiting for the tides to turn in someones favour and then come out to join the winning side. Or that he would wait until the fight was done and then come forth to kill the weakened winner.

Either way was fine by her. She would deal with him when he choose to reveal himself. Hopefully he would make the mistake of opposing her.

She put a hand on her cap as she descended down into the huge cloud. The dust in it already being beaten down into the ground by the intense raining.

* * *

Tatsumi dodged the incoming attack with ease. Simply bending his body backwards to avoid the swing of the incoming blade.

He was facing off against Budo's second-in-command. A man in his fifties with short hair and a white mustache. The man's fighting seemed to be adapted from older teachings of legionnare combat. He carried a huge shield and a sword. Trying to bash Tatsumi with the shield and using his sword for swift swings and strikes.

But the battle wasn't close to even. The old man was a very accomplished fighter but Tatsumi could guess that he was Budo's second-in-command because of his wisdom and not his combat prowess. That or he was a good figure for morale. Either way, Tatsumi could have beaten him without even using Incursio. And he already had the teigu activated. The only reason why Tatsumi hadn't taken the man down was because he was waiting for an opportunity to knock him out as painless as possible.

This was not a mercy that Tatsumi usually showed to the lapdogs of the empire. The reason for this exception was that, before the man and his men attacked them he had declared to Tatsumi and the other jaegers that they would be treated humanely the moment they lay down their weapons. Giving his word that they would be given a fair trial if they chose to surrended at any point during the battle. Showing that the man came from an older era of the empire. When honour and respect towards enemies still mattered.

Tatsumi didn't know if it was prudent to not suspect that the old man was lying. But the man gave Tatsumi a good feeling. Besides, it was easy for Tatsumi to show mercy when his opponent was so much inferior to him in combat.

He could see that Wave had taken the same decision. Fighting three opponents a rooftop away from him. Holding back, even if it seemed like his opponents were a bit thougher than Tatsumi's own.

It was more Kurome that Tatsumi was troubled by. He didn't think that girl would show mercy just because of curtesy. But she was currently fighting down in the street below them so Tatsumi couldn't see how that battle was going. Since he and Wave were moving around on the rooftops.

Their fight went on for a couple of minutes. Tatsumi waiting for the older man to wear himself out and give him an opening. Suprisingly, his opponent seemed to be very good at conserving his energy. Probabaly a side effect of his very heavy equipment. He wasn't wearing a full body armour but he had his legs and body covered in white plates.

After a little while, the man stopped attacking Tatsumi. He raised his shield in a defensive gesture. "You are more than an worthy opponent for me, boy!" he shouted. "But I can't help but notice that you haven't attacked me a single time. Are you trying to humiliate your elder?"

"You are imagining things, old man. You simply haven't given me any openings." Tatsumi lied in a encouraging voice. He could have smashed the man of the roof with a single kick many times in the last minute. He was about to return the kind offer his opponent had given him before the fight when he stopped himself.

His body reacted faster than his thoughts. He wasn't sure what it was that gave him the indication. He almost didn't feel the precense of the person behind him. But he could hear a faint sound of somethnig being swinged through the air. And he could see how the eyes of the old man suddenly shifted slightly to his left.

Tatsumi crouched down as fast as he could and then threw himself to the side. Just barely avoiding the first two swings of Izou's sword.

He rolled over and jumped a bit back. Looking at his new samurai-styled opponent with suprise.

"Who are you?" Budo's second-in-command shouted.

"Just a traveling warrior." Izou answered calmly and raised his sword.

"Bastard."Tatsumi said through clenched teeth. "Why are you attacking me?" Tatsumi was pretty sure that Izou was one of the few people that had not sided with the great general down at the meeting.

"I did not come here to talk to you." Izou answered. Shifting the straw in his mouth around with his lips. "As you probably realize."

Tatsumi quickly realized that Izou attacking him held an uncomfortable meaning. He was well aware who Izou worked for. Izou should have been on Esdese's side at the meeting so the fact that he was attacking Tatsumi could only mean one thing. The prime minister had realized that Tatsumi had become a problem. Which was very alarming. Izou had probably been ordered to kill Tatsumi in the chaos that would ensue. Striking while Esdese's attention were on other things.

This raised a lot of questions. How much did the prime minister know? How had he found out? Was someone leaking information? How many were aware of the prime minister's suspicion?

Yet all of this questions were pushed away from Tatsumi's mind at the moment. For he had just been given one of the most unsuspected chances in a long while. For now he had a legit and proper reason to fight one of the persons who's demise he had longed for the most.

Lubbock's killer.

Tatsumi had learned all about Lubbock's death and how he had been tortured. Feeling a responsibility to learn every detail about his dear friend's end. The only reason why he hadn't shared the same fate was because of Esdese. Her rare display of mercy only given to him. Unintrested in Lubbock. Her kindness only reminding Tatsumi of how unfair and cruel the empire was.

And how he had longed for this chance. How he had wished for something like this. Dreamt of it. And now his time had finally come.

He unlidded himself internally. Letting all the things he usually repressed bubble up. His grief, his anger,his fury, his bloodlust. He had waited patiently but now it was finally time for his sweet, sweet revenge.

He roared and moved towards Izou. Accelerating to his highest speed. Turning invisible when he got close.

* * *

Budo was slowly running out of steam. He was well aware of this himself. But he couldn't let up for a single moment right now. He needed to corner Esdese soon if he wanted to win this. They had turned the blocks around them into a field of dust and debris. With the corpses of a few unlucky people strewn here and there around them. Those that had been sleeping in their houses or hadn't been fast enough to get away.

Budo was calling down lightning strikes all around himself. Sending many of them flying down towards Esdese who was moving around at her highest speed. Every now and then he launched an orb of lightning from his arms towards her. Hoping that he would be able to make her take a step in the wrong direction and get hit by one of the lightning beams. But so far she had managed to avoid them all.

During his service in the military, he had never seen Esdese actually take a hit so he had no idea of her endurance level since she always avoided or blocked incoming attacks. But there was no way to block electricity with weapons or ice. So if he could just get a single attack to connect then he could put her endurance to the test. He was confident that she would not be able to last many hits from Adramelech. And even if she did have the endurance, the electricity would paralyse her enough for him to finish her off swiftly.

His assumptions seemed to be correct since Esdese was focusing on avoiding everything he threw at her. Moving back and forth in front of him. Not able to get close to him because of the constant barrage and not willing to take the risk of slowing down so that she could answer his ranged attacks with her own.

Esdese herself was starting to get tired of waiting for the great general to run out of power. She knew that he couldn't keep this up for long but she wasn't sure if this was favourable for her. She was walking on a thin line. And she knew that if she mistepped, the fall would be harsh.

But she was enjoying this to the fullest. Now she felt truly alive. Now she only existed in the present. Now there was no thoughts about the future or the past. Only this battle between the two of them existed in this moment. Only the thrill of dancing with death raging inside her. The bliss she would get from bringing pain and shame over Budo was the prize. And she was gambling all of herself on that she would be able to win it.

She stopped and made a gracious backflip in order to avoid the the lightning beam in front of her as well as the lightning orb that flew against her from the side. Landing comfortably a couple of meters back.

But to her suprise, when she landed, Budo was approaching her at the right side. Hurling another orb of lightning towards her as he did.

She quickly crouched down. The orb of lightning flying right past above her head. Then she launched herself forward. Too fast for him to be able to shoot at her again. She grabbed hold of her sword with both her hands and swung at him with all her strength. Her smile triumphant. He wouldn't have time to call down a lightning strike on himself if he was busy dodging her.

The great general brought up on of the gauntlets of Adramelech in defense. Burying his feet into the ground as he blocked her blow. Putting his other hand on the back of his blocking arm in order to steady it even more.

The strike was savage. Making the great general slide half a meter back as Esdese's sword cut through the gauntlet, heavily damaging the teigu. Her blade came to a halt just as it touched his arm after cutting through the entire side of the gauntlet. Making a small cut into his skin. Just as the great general had anticipated.

Esdese only managed to survive due to her extremly well-developed instincts. They warned her that there was no suprise in the great general. No fear or panick. Which raised a single question in her head. Why had the great general now moved to close combat after trying to keep a distance during their entire fight?

She let go her sword just before the electric forces of Adramelech forced it's way through it. She immediately summoned a long thin ice spear in her other hand but the great general had already started to jump back. Her sword still lodged into the side of one of his gauntlets.

He summoned the greatest beam of lightning from above he could muster. Striking it down on his own position. Forcing Esdese to jump backwards as fast as she could.

And the time she spent in the air, Budo used to charge up all his remaining power into his left arm. Her strike had heavily damaged his teigu. He wasn't even sure if he would be able to use the teigu's right arm ever again. But it had been a necesseary sacrifice in order to bring this monster down. Once and for all.

He directed his left arm to the place where Esdese was going to land. He pushed his teigu to it's absolute limit. His feet was driven into the ground as his teigu fired it's trump card towards where Esdese was going to land. "Solid shooter" Budo roared as the teigu's beam flew through the air. The boom of the blast overpowering his voice.

The bare force of the beam forced the ground under it to scatter. Causing all the debris around it to fly into the air again. Creating the biggest dust cloud yet behind it as it raced towards Esdese. The rain itself being forced out of the way by it's power before even getting in contact with the beam. Budo was certain that no living creature in the world could withstand an hit from this attack.

"Mahapadma!"

* * *

Tatsumi could hear the deafining boom as Adramelech trump card was used. Looking towards the noise, he could see how the giant beam emerged from the giant dust cloud. Destroying houses and streets as it went. It was heading in their direction.

Everyone fightning around him immediatly scattered in diffrent directions as the beam closed in on them. The fighting temporarly interrupted. Some of them jumped up to extreme heights while others moved to the side. Most of the fighters tried to jump in the same direction as their comrades. Wanting to stay with their allies.

The jaegers opted for height and jumped high up into the air as the blast went past beneath them. Destroying the the houses and streets. Sending a huge dust cloud up into the air. The cloud rose up and swallowed them mid-flight as it rose towards the sky.

They landed on the ground after some seconds. Among the rubble and remains of the area they had been fighting in. The blocks completly leveled by the blast. They still couldn't see much so they instinctively gathered together. All three of them looking in diffrent directions. Trying to detect any incoming opponents. The rain had decreased in intensity so the dust stayed in the air longer.

After a little while they could see the leaders of the imperial guard and the rest of Budo's followers. Standing about thirty meters away from them in a group. There were about forty of them but most posed no real threat to the jaegers.

As the dust slowly settled around them they could also see that the guards and soldiers belonging to the city watch were gathering around the edges of the destroyed area. Slowly closing in around the two groups. Keeping the distance since they were still unsure of what was going on. Tatsumi had seen the leader of the city watch at Budo's meeting but did not know what had happened when the battle and battle broke out. Unsure if Esdese initial attack had happened to kill the man or if he had been able escape.

Some civilians had also gathered at the outskirts of the now open area of destroyed houses.

The jaegers stayed at their position. Mainly intrested in defense in this battle as the other group started to approach them again. When there was only ten meters between the two groups the older man that Tatsumi had been fighting stepped forth. Budo's second-in-command.

"Feeling tired yet, jaegers?" he shouted out at them.

Tatsumi took it upon himself to answer."Not yet. How about you, old man? Is your age catching up with you?"

The older man smiled."Sorry to disappoint, youngling. I'm still in my prime!" The old man shoved his sword down into the ground."I will once again ask you to surrender."

"Sorry, not happening." Tatsumi shouted back. A cocky smile plasterd on his face.

Budo's second-in-command gestured to the soldiers and warriors gathering on the sideline with his free hand. "You are clearly outnumbered, lad. The soldiers that are gathering here all belong to the city watch. It was pretty obvious ,during the meeting ,that their captain supported the great general. While I can't remember a single one of the attending leaders that took Esdese's side down in the meeting room."

"Yeah I couldn't see anyone either." Tatsumi admitted. "That doesn't change our answer though."

The old man scowled and shook his head in frustration. "Folly!" he grabbed his sword. "Fine then, have it your way. I will remind you that you will be given a fai-"

He halted himself as a single figure came walking out of the dust to their side. Appearing between the two groups.

Esdese calmly walked out of the dust and smoke. Carrying her sword in one hand and dragging Budo by his hair in the other one.

Wave shouted out. "Commander! You actually managed to w-"

The blue haired boy interrupted himself as the wind made the dust around Esdese blow away. Revealing that she was only holding Budo's upper body. The corpse was missing one arm and the body was cut off right under the chest. Leaving a dark, bloody trail as she dragged it with her.

Gasps and cries of despair could be heard from the leaders of imperial guard. Budo's second-in-command took a step backwards. His face pale with shock and horror.

Esdese came to a halt when she had walked out of the dust completly. Her head was tilted towards the cloudy sky. Her eyes partly closed with a satisfied smile on her face.

_That was a good one_, she thought. _That was a really good one. _It was a pity that she hadn't been able to defeat him without killing him. Now she wouldn't get a chance to torture him. But she had deactivated Mahapadma just before she cut him in half. So that he would be able to understand what was happening but unable to stop it. His suprised and panicked expression had been a good consolation for the missed opportunity.

Her eyes slowly turned to the leaders of the imperial guard. Her head still tilted upwards. _ Time for some dessert._

She sauntered towards the group of the imperial guards while sheating her huge weapon. Putting her free hand on her hip when she was done. When she got close to the group, she threw the remnants of the proud great general down in front of them.

The old man dropped his sword and fell down on his knees by Budo's side. "But we had so much left to do... " he said in a shaky voice. His eyes filling with tears.

Esdese's expression was filled with satisfaction. "The imperial guard belongs to me now." she stated in a loud and excited voice. Her gaze wandering through the group of soldiers."From now on you follow my command."

Tatsumi could see on Esdese's expression and movements that it was dangerous to challenge her right now. She was riding high on the thrill and adrenaline that the battle had given her. She might act completly calm and composed but Tatsumi knew, that right now her extreme sadistic urges were on a hair-trigger. He actually considered to try and step in and try to calm her down. In order to repay the mercyful gesture Budo's second-in-command had shown them but he never got the chance to do so.

"Like hell we do." Budo's second-in-command growled. "We would never take orders from you!" he shouted. He grabbed his sword beside him and rose up. But Esdese was standing over him before he could rise up fully.

She swatted away his sword from him with the back of her hand and then grabbed his head in both of her hands. Standing slightly hunched over the old man. Staring him in the eyes as she slowly pressed her hands together. The old man screamed and flailed. Trying to get loose from her grip with one arm while the other one hit her in the side. Esdese didn't even react to it. She was simply too strong for the old man. His legs kicked and stamped the ground as his voice grew more shrill as she increased the pressure on his head.

Finally she straightened up and moved her arms away from her body with a playful giggle. Moving as if she was gonna throw the man away on his followers. But just as it looked like she was gonna let go of him she closed her hands. A sickening crunch was heard as the old mans head was crushed to a pulp. His blood and life fluids sprayed over the followers standing behind him as his body landed in front of them.

Tatsumi could hear how Wave gasped loudly behind him. He felt partly irritation and partly pity for his friend. He knew that out of all of them, Wave was the one who had worked the most with the imperial guard. So he probably knew these people personally. But one part of him felt irritation over that the boy hadn't realized where this was going. Had he still not realized what Esdese was?

Kurome seemed to not be bothered by it. As Tatsumi had expected. That girl had always been quick lump people together as either friends or enemies. And she felt little sympathy for her enemies.

Izou became visible as the last of the dust settled. He was standing far away from the two groups. Choosing to remain passive now that Esdese was back. Tatsumi gave him a glance. He didn't think that Izou feared death so this indicated that he had been ordered to only attack when Esdese wasn't around. Tatsumi considered trying to provoke him but decided against it. Not wishing to interrupt Esdese right now.

Esdese wiped her hands against each other. Due to the fact that she had been moving the body away from her when she crushed it, she had only gotten blood on her hands. She looked at the crowd of people in front of her. Most were stricken with horror. She could hear whimpers of despair and some people sobbing in the back of the group.

A young man stepped forth from the crowd. Looking at the destroyed head of the old man. He looked like a battle scribe. Dressed for battle but his main task seemed to be documentation. Carrying scrolls of papers on his side.

He looked at the ruined corpse."My master..." he said in a silent and mournful voice. His gaze then traveled to Budo's body that was on the ground behind Esdese. And then his eyes traveled up to her smiling face. She was giving him a curious look.

Anger filled his eyes but he kept quiet. Though he couldn't stop a scowl from forming on his face and that was all that was needed to provoke Esdese in this moment.

She flew towards him so fast that he didn't even have time to scream. A panicked yelp was the last noise that left his mouth. Esdese shoved her long sword into his groin in an upward stabbing motion. Making her blade pierce his entire body. The tip of it emerging through the skin at the side of the young man's neck.

She then easily lifted her sword into the air. Holding it up by her side. The young man's body skewered upon it. She slowly waved it around at her side as she watched the group of people in front of her. Blood dripping down on the ground. The right leg of the pierced young man spasming in death throes.

Screams could be heard from the people standing on the sidelines of the destroyed field. Now able to see the brutal scene themsleves.

"Anyone else feeling rebellious?" she called out in a amused and threatning voice.

Tatsumi watched it all unfold from behind her. He found it very morbid but not all too troubling.

The last two kills had been pretty gruesome but their deaths had been relatively swift. It was sad that the old man had to go that way but he had only suffered for maybe ten seconds at most. The young man that seemed to have been his apprentice even less than that. While it still was a horrible way to go, it was far from the worst fate Esdese could have given them. Her punishments could be much worse than then a few seconds of suffering followed by an undignified death.

He knew so since some of his friends had experienced what she was really capable of.

No, this was simply about statuating an example and breaking their morale, Tatsumi concluded. She was just showing everyone how things were gonna be from now on. Showing them who was in charge and why. Asserting her dominance over them.

This time no one stepped forth. The otherwise strong morale of the imperial guard shaken to it's core by watching two of their stoic leaders die. Most were reeling in shock. Some were averting their eyes in fear and some were covering their faces. Sobs could be heard here and there. They had truly loved their leaders. They would literally have fought to the last man with their leadership. But now, no one in the imperial guard even knew who would be in charge if Esdese wasn't there.

"Good." Esdese said and swung her sword in the air aginst them. Making the body fly off her sword and into some of the people in the group. Making them fall over. She swung it again to make the last of the blood fly off it and then sheated it behind her.

"With this, the treason of Budo is over. Killed in it's crib." She announced loudly. "I am taking control of the imperial guard. And as of today, I will be the new great general. The entire military is now at my command."

Everyone was silent. Nobody said a word. The rain had finally stopped and silence ruled over the grim scene.

Then a single solitude clapping could be heard. Esdese turned around with a proud smile towards Tatsumi. Who was clapping in support. Smiling at her. No one followed his lead. Not even his fellow jaegers applauded but he didn't care. She was the only one he would need. Esdese was the only one he needed on his side in order to ruin everything.

She started to walk towards him but didn't get too far before her stride was interrupted.

"Not so FUCKING fast, ice queen." a furious voice shouted.

With a loud bang, Makeias landed on their side. Descending from a long jump. Sending a cloud of dust up into the air with his landing. Tom-Tom and his guards landing behind him.

Makeis straightened up from the jump. He had one of his spears drawn. Holding it horizontally behind his back. Black liquid dripping from it.

"Ahh, pillager!" Esdese greeted with a smile. Putting one of her hands on the hilt of her sheated weapon."I was wondering when you were going to show up."

Makeias eyes traveled to the dead body of Budo. It stung him to see the proud man so utterly destroyed. Even if Budo had come to resent him after his campaings, there had been a day, long ago, when Makeias had proudly knelt down in front of the great general as Budo bestowed the rank of general upon him. It was still the greatest moment of his young innocent days.

"This is not how it is done." he said loudly as he looked at Esdese. All his usual humor and jokes gone for the moment. "The imperial guard only follows the great general."

"I have laid claim to that title now, pillager. The imperial guard belongs to me." Esdese said nonchalantly.

"That is not how it works and you know it." Makeias barked at her."You need to have the support of both the military leaders and the politicians to inherit that rank."

Esdese only smiled at him. "You know that I got the political side of it covered already. As for the military leaders.." she waved her hand at the shocked and sobbing group of imperial guards."...most of us are right here." She turned her gaze to the subdued group.

"Does anyone of you oppose me taking over the now vacant title of great general?"

Nobody in the group said a word. Only whimpers and sobbing could be heard from the once proud unit.

"There you have it." Esdese said and returned her gaze to Makeias. "I am now the great general. That is.." she said as her smile grew wider and more dangerous. "..unless you chose to oppose me."

Makeias gave her a dark look. His thoughts racing. Was this the best chance he was gonna get? He knew that his army wasn't quite ready yet but maybe this was the only chance he was gonna get to kill Esdese. But she didn't look strained at all. He couldn't even tell if she had used Mahapadma yet. He hadn't noticed anything but he didn't think that he would have even if she had used it during her battle with Budo. She could have used it when all the smoke was obscuring his view of their fight.

He could feel how Morbus called out for battle. It wanted to fight Esdese. It wanted him to attack her. But Makeias had since long learned to ignore that voice. Because Morbus only strived to cause decay. In all it's forms. It didn't matter if it was decay of morals, structures, order or just of the flesh. Morbus wanted everything to decay. Including itself and Makeias. And it could feel that fighting Esdese would cause a lot of decay.

Makeias quickly silenced that voice inside of him and tried to focus on what he knew.

He knew that when it came to raw power, Budo had been stronger than him. But he was faster than Budo had been. But during his sparring match with Esdese he had learned that she was slightly faster than himself. And much stronger. He had watched her and Budo's fight very closely but he had no way to discern if she had used up most of her power or not. She sure as hell didn't look tired at this moment.

In the end, he didn't know enough. He knew that his forces were not really ready to act yet so if he should force them to act now then he needed to know that this was a chance and not a risk. Which he couldn't confirm.

He took his decision.

Makeias slowly raised his spear on his right side. And then he dropped it. It fell down and pierced the ground. Remaining standing.

"No, Esdese. I do not oppose you." Makeias said. F_or now._

Esdese smiled with satisfaction. But she was not going to let him get away that easily.

"Smart of you." she said and let go of her weapon."Then come here and kneel before me." she commanded and moved towards him. Stopping right in front of the remains of Budo.

Makeias face was a stone mask as he walked up and knelt in front of her. Looking at the body of his dead superior. Tom-Tom and his men knelt down where they were standing when they saw Makeias do it. Esdese was looking down at him with a malicious grin.

"Makeias, I will reward you for choosing to follow me instead of opposing me. And I also recognize your strength. You will be acting as my personal aide in the time to come. You will help me reforge the military." She called out. Some of her excitment slipping through into her formal tone. It was going to be be so much fun to have him around when she now could do whatever she wanted to him.

"As you command." Makeias answered in an empty voice.

"However." Esdese said. "You have annoyed me quite a bit during these last weeks. So from here on, everyone in the military shall refer to you as pillager. You will keep your powers and privilges but your new rank shall be called pillager." she said with an amused smile. Making his degrading nickname into his actual rank.

"Of course, general."

"Great general." Esdese corrected. "Next time you forget that you will be punished."

"Of course, great general."

Esdese looked down at him. She was a bit dissatisfied. He wasn't sounding ashamed or annoyed at all. She wanted to drive the nail in a bit further.

She put one of her white boots on top of Budo's body. Right in front of him.

"Lick it."

Makeias looked up at her. Giving her a sceptical look. She met his gaze with a placid smile. Her eyes slightly lidded. Waiting for him to object so that she could punish him.

Makeias sceptical expression did not stem from disbelief or suprise that Esdese would ask this of him, though. His wonder came from the fact that she didn't seem to understand him at all. He had killed so many people and destroyed so many lives in order to get here. He had ruined so many homes and burned so many villages. All just so that he would get to a position where he could strive towards his true objective. He had caused so much pain and suffering to be able to reach his goal.

Did she honestly believe that his pathetic pride held a candle to those sacrifices?

He bent down and started with his task.

Some gasps could be heard from the imperial guard but Tom-Tom and his men seemed unfazed by this turn of events.

Esdese's smile grew a little bit wider. Revealing some of her teeth. She turned her head to Tatsumi.

"Tatsumi." she called out in a sweet voice. Waving with her hand for him to come closer.

He walked over to her with haste. Filled with euphoria and joy. It had worked! It had actually worked! He almost couldn't believe it. He had caused the death of the great general and nobody knew it. And his position was so much better now that Esdese would be the one to decide what the duties and regulations of the entire military was. Everything was moving as he had intended.

He walked up to her and she immediately wrapped one of her arms around his head. Bringing him close and kissing him deeply and passionately. Smearing the blood on her fingers on his cheek. Making out with him while Makeias licked her boot.

The clouds had slowly started to part and a few rays of of the morning sun started to shine down at the scene. Silence dominated the moment. Only interrupted by the occasional smacking of Esdese's forceful kissing. Nobody knew what was going to happen now.

Nobody but Tatsumi.

* * *

**A slightly longer author's note:**

**There we go. The first part of Bent but not Broken is done. This was as far as I had planned when I began writing this story. The next chapter will take place some weeks after the events described in this entry to the story.**

**I have started to read through and correct old mistakes as I have been changing Esdeath to Esdese. I said that I wouldn't replace any chapters with the new versions until I had them all ready but... some of the old mistakes has just been too painful to leave alone anymore. Rereading the older chapters have been an exercise in shame and facepalming. Not because of the story itself but because of the gramatical mistakes have been so many.**

**So I will start replacing the chapters with new versions in chronological order. Starting today. Continuity be damned! I will hopefully get it all done rather quickly.**

**Some of you have been advicing me to get someone to betaread my chapters or something akin to that. It is a good idea but the problem with that is my tempo. Each one of these are usually around 8000-10 000 words and I release one roughly every week. I doubt that kind of speed could be maintained for any extended time if I would have someone else involved in the process.**

**But that trade off might be worth it. If you think the grammatical errors in recent chapters are big enough to detract from the story then I shall consider it.**

**Anyway, I want to thank you all for reading. While I have had the events of this chapter planned from the start, I still never thought that I would actually get to this point. I have never indulged this deeply into any of my fantasies. And it has been a very enjoyable journey. Mainly because you people actually read it. And thanks for all the comment/reviews. They are literally what keeps me exploring this scenario.**

**The next one will be released in about 7-8 days. Hopefully.**

**Have a great day and take care of each other.**


	16. Ruins built on ruins

**I feel like these delays are starting to become standard. I will try to do something about that.**

* * *

**Ruins built on ruins.**

The huge doors to the almost empty hall opened up and almost all the heads in the room turned as the guards announced Esdese's arrival to the morning meeting.

She had some of her followers with her. Bellany was walking behind her with a folder under one of her arms. Looking proper and beautiful. Some officers from her army that Tatsumi recognized were walking beside Bellany. Both carrying scrolls and papers. Esdese herself was wearing her usual uniform but now carried a much larger and longer cloak than usual over her shoulders, instead of her old coat. The cloak itself a mark of her rank as great general.

Tatsumi was standing beside the podium that was stationed on one side of the room. Standing beside the stairs that led up to a giant chair that was intended for her. The big room was relatively empty. Guards were stationed at the main doors that Esdese had entered through and there were some warriors standing around the podium itself. Makeias and Tom-Tom was standing beside the huge chair on the top of the podium. Waiting for Esdese. Some of Makeias own guards were also standing in the back of the room.

But aside from that and Esdese's small retinue, the big hall was empty.

"Good morning, warriors of the empire." Esdese called out. "I hope you have slept well because we have a lot of work to do."

The guards at the base of the podium saluted her as she approached it. "How many have arrived today, pillager?" She asked and looked at Makeias as she started to climb up the stairs. She reached out with an arm and drove her fingers through Tatsumi's hair as she passed by him.

Tatsumi looked at Belllany as she walked by him, following Esdese up the stairs. Trying to get eye contact. But the girl treated him like air. As she had done ever since they met in the archives. Tatsumi had still not been able to understand what was going on with her.

"Well.." Makeias said and looked at a clipboard that Tom-Tom gave him. ".. quite a lot more than yesterday. Almost two thousand diffrent cases."

Three weeks had passed since Budo's demise. Since then, any soldier and warrior of worth belonging to the empire had been called in to swear allegiance to the new great general. This was standard procedure but the process around it had been much more tense this time around. Due to the nature of Esdese's overtaking of the title. This time around it was not just a matter of keeping up standards. There was a high chance that if you failed to show up, then you would be labeled as a traitor to the empire. Since it was Esdese who decided how things were going to go down this time around.

This was a meeting to give a chance for those who had not yet pledged themselves to Esdese to do so. These kind of gatherings had been held every morning during the last three weeks.

"Anyone we need to keep an eye on?" Esdese asked. Sounding interested. There had been a few cases of people that had been sent to the torture chambers during these meetings. For one reason or another. Some of them had almost deserved it. Almost. Tatsumi had heard that the admiral of the empire's navy had been executed on the spot on one of these meetings. Esdese sending a spear of ice through his neck when he started to shout at her. Not even rising up from her chair as she did.

"I don't know, to be honest." Makeias said and read through his clipboard. "I am sure that you have heard that general Gallus finally has arrived."

"Yeah, I heard." Esdese said as she reached the top of the stairs. "Do you think he will be too prideful to bend the knee?". She almost sounded like she hoped that he would refuse.

"We have apparently met him before. Both of us. He was attending both of our inauguration ceremonies when we became generals." Makeias said. His eyes reading from the clipboard.

"I can't say that I remember him." Esdese said and moved some of her hair away as she sat down in the huge chair. Her big cloak spreading out around her. Bellany and her other officers placing themselves standing behind her chair.

"Yeah, neither can I. Anyway, from what I have heard, he is supposedly far too lazy and comfortable to bother with such a thing as insubordination." Makeias said and looked up from his clipboard.

"Do you want us to keep an eye on him because you think he might be too sluggish to be of use to us?" Esdese said and gave Makeias a curious look.

"Yeah, maybe. He also has some rather disturbing hobbies." Makeias said and looked at her with meaningful eyes.

Tatsumi stood down by the stairs and listened to the discussion. He knew what Makeias was referring to. General Gallus was known as a rather peaceful figure. He was a warrior priest that had risen within the military in order to spread his relligion within the empire. Among all the five field-generals the empire had in it's service at the moment, he was known as the most pacifistic.

However, it was also commonly known amongst the spies of the revolutionary army that he often had small boys delivered to his chambers during the nights. Most of them never being heard from or seen again. Makeias was probably referring to that. Though Tatsumi didn't understand what Makeias thought that bringing that up to someone who spent their free time torturing people for pleasure would accomplish.

"What the man does on his free time is not what we should concern ourselves with, pillager." she said and waved a hand in the air. "We should only be concerned with his loyalty."

Makeias simply nodded.

"Anyone else we should take notice of?" she asked him.

"Not that I can see." Makeias answered. Once again glancing at his clipboard.

"Well then. Go and start the process." she ordered.

Makeias saluted her and started to walk off the podium. Esdese's eyes following him.

Tatsumi watched him walk out of the room. The relationship between Makeias and Esdese had become very strange after Esdese became great general.

Esdese had kept her word and allowed him to keep all his powers and forces. But just as both Tatsumi and Makeias had suspected, there was a rather nasty catch to it. Esdese had said that she would make him into her most influential counsellor. And she had. They had worked very closely as they had reforged the imperial military these last three weeks.

She had made it very clear that she wanted his objections to her decisions and his advise on her ideas. She had told Makeias that the moment he stopped speaking his mind, she would take his powers from him and throw him out of the military. And when she didn't think that his objections were justified or his advise sound, then he was punished severly by Esdese herself.

Just the other day, he had come walking when Esdese was moving to the jaeger's quarters with Tatsumi. He had some objections and complaints about her decision that a certain southern warlord shouldn't be offered reconciliation into their new military. Esdese had listened to everything he had to say. Honestly taking his complaints into consideration. She had finallly decided that she didn't agree. Then, without warning, she had kneed him in the stomach so hard that he fell over and threw up his dinner. She had then walked away while telling him to investigate some of the cases coming the next day. And Makeias had risen up, wiped his mouth and had then told her that he would get to it immediately.

And that was the strange position Makeias was in right now. He clearly had more inluence over the military than ever before but he also acted as Esdese's punching bag. Yet in some ways, it was apparent that Esdese respected his strength and knowledge. She listened more to him than any other of her counsellors. Clearly valuing his knowledge, since more than half of his objections didn't end up in punishments.

Tatsumi wasn't sure that he liked that. Not that he had ever acted as one of Esdese's counsellors. That would have been way too obvious. But he wasn't sure that it was a good thing that Makeias infuence increased along with Esdese's. Especially since Makeias still hadn't contacted Tatsumi about what he wanted in return for keeping quiet about the imperial archives.

Esdese watched as Makeias left the room. It seemed like today's meeting might turn out to be one of the boring ones. These meetings had been everything from fun to tedious. But today she had something she usually didn't have at these meetings. She looked down at Tatsumi.

He was standing with his back against her. Facing the doors. He had been called in as a security guard for this meeting. To see that nothing went awry. However, Tatsumi himself had of course understood the folly of having a jaeger placed to protect the ice queen.

Tatsumi and Esdese had both been very busy these last three weeks. Their roles and duties had forced them to spend very little time together. Both of them working on establishing the new military in their own ways. This was actually the first morning that Tatsumi had been free of work or tasks since Budo's death. As soon as Esdese learned that he was free she had it arranged so that he would be called in as a guard this morning.

Which of course only was a facade.

"Tatsumi." she called out in a giddy voice.

"Yes, great general?" Tatsumi answered in a formal tone and turned around.

She scuffled off to the side in her huge seat and enthusiastically patted the spot beside her.

Tatsumi expression changed to something partly questioning and partly embarrassed. Trying to tell her that it would be troublesome for him with a gaze. Esdese understood what his face was telling her but she would have none of it. She eagerly patted the spot beside her again. Her smile warm and unyielding.

Tatsumi sighed and started to walk up the stairs.

This was the kind of standards and regulations that Esdese had started to completly ignore, now that she was the great general. Now she was the one who decided what was proper and what was not. Only the emperor himself could overrule her command now. Which had allowed her dominating urges to come out in full swing.

She had always been loyal to her subordinates and therefore loyal to the empire. In her own way. Therefore she had always obliged to her duties as a general. But now she was the great general and decided almost all of what her duties were herself.

Tatsumi walked up on the podium. Looking at her in a complaining way. Her eyes smiled at him in a dangerous way. He took some steps forward and sat down beside her. Sitting down on her huge cloak that spread over most of the seat. And just as he did, the doors to the great hall opened and people started to flow into the room.

Esdese looked at the crowd of people that were walking into the hall as her hand came slithering around Tatsumi. Crawling in under his shirt and taking a grip on the side of his stomach. Pressing his body against her side.

The room quickly filled up with people. Esdese watching every new warrior and soldier that entered through the big doors. Measuring them with her gaze. Tatsumi also kept his eyes at the people that arrived. Trying to see if there was anyone there that he recognized.

Makeias was the last one to enter through the doors. The guards closing and locking them behind him. A pretty clear signal that there was little escape for those attending now. As Makeias started to walk through the crowd and organizing people, Esdese turned her gaze from the crowd and pushed her nose down into Tatsumi's hair. Taking some deep and eager breaths of his smell while Makeias organized the room.

Tatsumi tried to act unpertubed. Like this was nothing out of the ordinary. Despite the fact that most eyes in the room were glued to the two of them. He had since long ago discarded any remnants of pride he had. Deciding that it would not aid him anymore. Yet he still found this to be somewhat embarrasing. He didn't understand why. It was almost instinctual.

The room had started to grow more silent. Just as Tatsumi thought that he had the situation somewhat under control, Esdese moved a little bit down and gave the side of his face a forceful lick. From his jawline to beside his eye. Pressing her tongue against him with enough force to make him bend his head a bit. Suddenly it became much harder for Tatsumi to fight the redness that started to creep up his neck.

Esedese was of course not bothered by the audience at all. She liked being the center of attention and felt no shame about any of her interests or desires. Including her affection. So if she wanted to nibble on his face then she would nibble on his face. Welcoming anyone to try and stop her. Tatsumi kept his eyes at the crowd. The looks they were given were varied. Many were fearful or troubled. Some were curious or suprised. A few were filled with jealousy or contempt.

"Alright then!" Makeias called out and walked up to the base of the stairs. He turned around to the crowd when he was standing in front of the podium. "I will start calling your names out now. Come forth and report the extent of your forces and then swear their as well as your own allegiance to the great general when I do. She will then decide wherever she accepts you into her new military or not. If she does, you will be escorted to another room to fill out all the necessary papers and registrations."

Makeias didn't need to say what it meant if Esdese didn't accept you into her military. Everyone in the room was well aware. Unless there was a really good reason, they would not be allowed to just walk out of here peacefully if that was the case.

Esdese turned her face towards the crowd again. Moving away from Tatsumi's face for the moment. Leaving a long trail of her saliva on the side of it. She looked down on the crowd with an empty expression.

"Okay." Makeias shouted."First on the list is mercenary captain Sota."

A big bald man walked out from the crowd. Almost twice as big as Tatsumi. He skin was the colour of chestnut. His clothes were brown and grey and he carried a big saber on his side. His head was so bald that it looked like it had been waxed and he had a black mustach that fell down on the sides of his mouth and trailed down to his waist.

"Sota is known from.." Makeias started to introduce but was interrupted as the bigger man shoved a open hand into his chest and pushed him too the side.

"Stay away from me, pillager." The bigger man said in a brisk voice."You reek of sickness and piss."

Makeias couldn't help but smile as the big man passed by him. "And we're off to a great start."

The man walked up to the base of the podium. He looked up at Esdese with a hard smile. "It is an honor to stand before you again, ice queen. We have met before, but I am not sure that you will remember."

"Ohh I do, Sota. Your little mercenary company begged for me to hire you during my campaign in the north." Esdese's smile lacked warmth but was not unfriendly. She was holding two fingers on her chin in a thinking pose. Tatsumi could feel how her fingers slowly stroked the side of his stomach under his shirt. She was still deciding about this one.

"Of course we did. The battles were going to be fucking glorious." Sota said with confidence.

"But you didn't want to participate without being on someone's side." Esdese said. Her eyes measuring the man she was looking down upon.

"We didn't want to particpate if we weren't on **your** side. No mercenary will live long if he can't see who the strongest dog is."

"And you reckoned that was me?"

"It was easy to see that you had the biggest cock around." the mercenary answered loudly.

Esdese's smile widened slightly. "I was sure that my appearance would convince people otherwise."

"It is not about appearance, ice queen. You are way to assertive to be a girl." Sato said with a cocky smile.

Many in the room looked shocked at his words but Esdese only chuckled. This form of crude language didn't bother her at all. She was no stranger to any form of genitalia anyway. It was one of the basics of torture to go after the victims most sensitive spots.

"I have been called many things but this is the first time ever that anyone has claimed that I am not a woman." she said. She sounded amused but her smile had gotten a little bit more dangerous.

"I have never seen a girl with your power and bloodlust." Sato stated. Actually sounding serious in his claim.

"There are very few girls like me." Esdese admitted. "But you seem to have a pretty big obsession with cocks though, Sato. Should the boys of my legions be worried if I let you into the imperial military."

"Only if they irritate me." Sato said in a self-confident way.

Esdese took her decision. "Fine. Sato, I will allow you and your company to join my military. Your forces will be disbanded, distributed and spread out in many diffrent legions. You yourself will be given the rank of footsoldier."

Sato's face fell. It was clear that this was not quite what the mercenary had expected. It seemed like he had hoped to keep his power.

He looked over to Makeias who smiled mockingly at him. The mercenary's thoughts started to move fast. Makeias wasn't wearing a weapon and neither was Esdese. So he would only have to get past the guards. He started to reach for his sword. He looked up at the new great general. Quickly realizing how foolish that thought was.

Esdese eyes were filled with a dangerous gleam. Her expression intrigued and welcoming. Sato realized that she wanted him to draw his weapon.

"Kneel." she ordered calmly.

The mercenary did as he was bid immediately. Knowing that the torture chambers awaited him if he refused. He swore his oaths.

Esdese nodded when he was done. "I accept your vows. The guards will guide you to where you can write your registrations. If you have a craving for manhood, then I think there are a few brothels that specialize in that down in the slums which you could visit." she finished cruelly. Some nervous laughs could be heard throughout the room.

Some soldiers came and lead the man away while Makeias started to call out for the next one.

The following ones were much less eventful. Mostly just officers and soldiers from diffrent kinds of the military that were there to reinstate themselves. Tatsumi could easily notice how Esdese started to grow bored after about fifteen cases. Her stroking of his stomach had slowly turned more foreboding. Her nails starting to scrape his skin.

He could tell from the way she clawed at him that she was hungry for him. They had not been able to spend much time together at all this last weeks and it had made their few interactions even more frantic and intense. But there was something else to it as well. Esdese's more bestial sides had been driven forth by the situation they were in now.

He had even started to notice this on her first dinner with him as great general. Budo had been killed in the early morning and after that he and Esdese had gone diffrent ways. She and Makeias had set about with reforging the military. Immediatly meeting with the politicians and leaders that were connected to the military. Delivering the news about Budo's demise along with an order to immediately swear loyalty to Esdese. Killing anyone who even hesitated for a moment. Spending the entire day with gathering followers and destroying the institutions and people that objected.

The news had spread like wildfire and towards the end of the day, everyone bent before them.

Tatsumi himself had been busy with diffrent tasks. The jaegers had been ordered to seek out any teigu users in the capital and check their allegiance. Ordered to not engage anyone unless necessary. Esdese didn't want to miss a fight with a teigu user. But Tatsumi had also been busy with other things. The entire military was getting an overhaul and he wanted to have control over some good positions when the new order was established.

So he had been busy for the entire day. When he had finally returned to their chambers, Esdese had been nowhere to be seen. She didn't come back to her quarters that night. Tatsumi still didn't know if she had slept somewhere else or if she had skipped sleep entirely that night. But she had apparently been too busy to return to her chambers.

It was first at the dinner the day after that night that they met again. Tatsumi had waited alone in the dinner hall. He had heard that she was returning so he had waited rather late into the evening for her.

He had noticed that something was off the moment she entered the dining hall. He had first made the mistake of thinking that she had been exhausted. She had greeted him and smiled warmly. Then she had simply sat down on the other end of the long table as the attendants came and served her some dishes. He had asked her about how everything had gone but her answers had been short and brief. After a little while the discussion had died off and Tatsumi had focused on his food. Wondering what was going on.

It was after some minutes of silence that he realized that she was not tired. She was holding back something starved and furious. And not for food.

He had looked up at her after looking down at his meal for some time and had seen that she was staring at him. Her expression serious. She didn't say anything. Nor did she touch her food. She had just stared at him. But Tatsumi recognized the look in her eyes. She wanted to touch him, she wanted to hurt him, she wanted to please him. She wanted to do so many things to him. He had been able to tell just by looking at her.

Her dominating and sadistic urges had been running wild for two days straight and now he was sitting right in front of her. Her most precious playmate. All her love and affection for him battling inside of her against the urges to dominate and hurt him.

The silence had gone on for almost five minutes. Esdese staring at him, barely even blinking, while Tatsumi's gaze flickered back and forth. And her feelings managed to reach him. He felt how his heartrate went up a bit and how his blood moved to certain parts of him in anticipation.

After a little while he had tried to talk to her again. "Esdese?" he had said. He had intended to sound gentle and questioning but his fear and expectations leaked into his voice. Making it sound like he was pleading. His voice meek and longing.

That had been more than Esdese could take.

She had drawn a sharp breath and her eyes had widened slightly. Her right hand had closed strongly. Bending the knife in it to a V-shape. Ruining the beautiful silverware. Her gaze had momentarily shifted to the attandants.

"Out. Now." Her voice had been a low growl. Threatening and filled predatory lust.

The message had gone across and the attendants had almost been been running as they existed the room. Esdese's eyes once again focusing on Tatsumi. The moment the door closed behind them, Esdese had swiped away her tableware with her arm and jumped across the table, towards Tatsumi. Her arm reaching out towards him.

Tatsumi had ducked down and jumped in under the table. Not sure why he did so. Since he also wanted it. His instincts had reacted to the huge carnivorus aura she had emitted. His body fleeing from the perceived threat on it's own accord. He didn't get too far though. Her hand had grabbed his ankle before he had gotten far in under the table. When he had turned around he had been met with blue gleaming eyes. Staring into his own.

She had drawn him out and lifted him up by the throat. Then she had swiped away his plates and glass and then smashed him down upon the table. Then she had taken him. Right then and there. Letting all her urges come out and play. Tearing through his clothes. Making Tatsumi whimper and yelp as she bit and clawed at him. Her touch ranging from sweet and tender to hard and painful. From wonderful squeezing to beastly ravaging.

When she was done with him he had been a shivering and sticky mess. His breathing shaky and his clothes ripped to shreds. Bleeding from many small wounds. Not even having the strength to rise up. His energy spent on their violent copulation.

She had then straightened out her clothes and risen up. She had thanked him for the enjoyable dinner. Looking down at him with extreme satisfaction. To her, he had looked perfect like that. Cracked open and naked. All exposed and vulnerable to her. Marked as hers by her own fangs and fluids. At that moment all of him was hers. At that moment he could not hide anything from her. Or so she thought.

For some moments, Tatsumi thought that she would leave him lying there on the table. But then she had wrapped him up in the tablecloth and carried him up to their chambers. There to continue playing around with his body.

And so it had gone on. They hadn't gotten to meet each other that much during these last weeks but when they did, a lot of things needed to be expressed and get release. She was usually the one being the most busy of the two of them. Coming back to their chambers when Tatsumi was already lying sleeping in their bed. Undressing and then creeping up into the bed. Usually waking him up as she claimed her rights over him once again.

Tatsumi could still not understand how she could keep up her pace when she worked all day and then spent all night savagely fornicating. It seemed to him that she never got a chance to rest. But she seemed to enjoy the situation they were in. Now she spent her entire days establishing her dominance and all nights with her mate.

She loved this and in a strange and dark way, that made Tatsumi happy. If she liked this then she would keep doing it. Walking down the road he had intended for her. The joy and bliss she got from it was his gift to her. His trade. Tatsumi almost found it a bit uncomfortable that he was so happy that she was enjoying herself. It made the change he had gone through this last twenty months terrifyingly apparent. He needed to not forget his final goal. He needed to remember that in the end, she would have to be stopped as well.

Tatsumi was brought back from his reminiscing as Makeias announced the next warrior.

"Next up is general Gallus." Makeias turned up from his list and looked at the approaching man. "You sure took your time to answer our call, general."

The man walking out of the crowd was apparently the man that Esdese and Makeias had talked about before. Tatsumi had never seen him in person but this man matched the descriptions he had heard.

The man was about as tall as Makeias, a head taller than Esdese. But Gallus was much wider than both of them. He had an enormous gut and thick arms. He didn't look particulary well trained. His Belly hanging down over his belt. He was in his forties and had no hair on either his head or his face. His expression stern and yet somehow still humble. He was wearing mostly black clothes with some white linings. A religious attire. He carried a large warhammer over his back. So big that Tatsumi had a hard time believing that the man could handle himself well in combat with such a huge and clumsy weapon but since the man was of general rank he guessed that his appearance was decieving.

The highest ranked warrior priest in the empire, general Gallus.

Tatsumi looked at the general. This man was a walking contradiction. A testament to the complexity of human nature. Out of all the generals in the empire, he was the most mercyful and kind in how he executed his orders.

So benevolent that Night raid hadn't even considered him a prioritized target. Despite his position. This man used his forces to help people in areas where natural disaster had struck. He used his influence to fight the poverty and starvation within the empire. And when he actually did bring his forces to battle and conquered, the defeated forces were always treated humanely. His army immediately shifting focus to helping the wounded and dying on both sides, as soon as the battle was done. Preaching the forgivness and compassion that his religion teached.

Within the empire, general Gallus was often seen as a symbol of what the empire was supposed to be. Which Tatsumi found extremly ironic. Since most spies of the revolutionary army were well aware that the man was a child rapist. Apparently the leaders of the imperial military were aware of this as well. If Esdese's and Makeias's discussion before was any indication.

The big man turned his head to Makeias. "Ahh Makeias, it is good to see you. I'm sorry that I am late to the party." he spoke in a kind voice. "I have heard about your efforts on the western borders. I offer my condolences for having to deal with that ugly situation on the empires behalf. But from what I have heard, you managed to handle the situation quite well. You have my thanks, son."

Makeias smiled at the big man. Thankful that he actually had avoided calling him by the rank Esdese had given him. "Thanks general Gallus. I rarely get praise for my work. But it is not me you should be apologizing to or searching approval from." he said and nodded to the podium behind him.

Gallus turned his gaze up to the podium and was met by blue cold eyes. Judging him from above. He walked past Makeias and kneeled down by the stairs. Esdese didn't say anything. Her expression empty.

"Great general Esdese." he boomed out. His voice strong and firm. "I have arrived to swear allegiance to you."

Esdese rested her head down in her hand. "You were ordered to come here three weeks ago. Why did it take you this long to show up?"

"I was stricken by sadness when I heard the news about Budo. I had to spend some time to pray and mourn before I started my travels towards the capital."

A complacent smile formed on Esdese's face."Was he really that dear to you?"

"No, he was not, but I always admired the man. His strong belief in justice was always inspiring. To know that even such a man as him was able to fall into corruption and treason was a harsh reminder that we all carry the potential for evil in our hearts." Gallus answered. He really did sound like a preacher in a church, Tatsumi reflected.

"I'm sure it was." Esdese said. Her smile staying. "But I don't know if I should let you join my military if these sort of bad news will render you incapable of action. I don't like the idea of letting my subordinates be lead by a warrior so easily rendered impotent."

Tatsumi knew that she was going to let the general rejoin the military. He could tell from the way she looked down on him. She was just getting rid of her boredom by cruelly playing with the man a little bit. Making it seem like he might be close to a death in the torture chambers when she had actually already decided.

"Then I ask this of you," general Gallus called out. "once I swore my loyalty to Budo. Just as I now are about to do to you. Will you betray me like he did?"

"I am loyal to my subordinates." was the only thing Esdese answered. Everyone in the room knew that Budo had been loyal to his own underlings as well.

"I will take your word for it." Gallus answered. He bent his head down and swore loyalty to her. For both him and the legions he commmanded.

Esdese was silent for a while after he was done. Looking down at him. She wanted to see if she could put some fear in him by just waiting. But the big man was unfazed by the silence. Still looking humble and calm.

"Very well." She answered after some seconds."I accept your vows. As a general, you will now be forced to attend the generals meeting together with me and Makeias later today. You will be briefed about your other duties then. Now go and fill out your registration."

The big man rose up and nodded to her. He patted Makeias on the shoulder as he passed him on his way out of the room.

Esdese leaned back into her chair. Her fingers slowly started to claw at the side of Tatsumi's stomach again. Her focus returning to him now that the highest ranked case of the day had been dealt with. But her attention was quickly brought back to the floor as Makeias announced the next one.

"Okay, so next up we have arena champion Radolf. He has... is.. is that a cow?"

The warrior called forth was a demi-human. Partly human and partly a bull. Just like the fighter Tatsumi had fought down in the arena on the day that he first caught Esdese's attention. He carried two small battle axes in his belt. Demi-humans were not that rare in the empire. However, it seemed like Makeias had never met one.

"Is that a fucking cow walking around on two legs like it's from the fucking circus?!" he exclaimed and pointed at the warrior.

Esdese smiled. "Don't tell me that you have never seen a demi-human before, pillager." she called down to him. Finding this rather entertaining.

Makeias ignored her and shouted out to no one in particular. "Okay, who did this? Who fucked a cow? Who made this happen?"

The arena champion Radolf tried to chime in. Trying to act as humble as possible. "Actually , sir Makeias. It is believed that us demi-humans evolved like this without any contact with hu-"

"You close your goddam mouth!" Makeias interrupted him. "You freak me the fuck out just by standing there and now you're gonna start talking?" he shouted. Looking somewhat flustered. "You keep your goddam mouth shut or I will turn you into burgermeat, you clothed cattle!"

Esdese laughed lightly at Makeias sudden outburst. The sly man temporarily acting a bit out of character. And when the great general laughed, her soldiers laughed with her.

The proud arena champion looked around. Not understanding why everyone was laughing at him. Esdese noticed his confusion. Deciding to give him a chance.

"Radolf, I have heard about your achievments in the fighting pits." she called out. The room falling silent as she started to speak. "I have been lucky to see a few of your matches by chance. I hope you will show the same vigour and enthusiasm in the military."

Radolf seemed to be glad for this offered escape from the ridiculing. And he felt pride fill him as the ice queen herself had just praised him. "It would be the geatest honour of my life to fight for you, great general Esdese." He called out. Hitting his chest with his fist.

Esdese nodded. "Then go and fill out the forms." she said. Not even bothering with hearing his vows before letting him know her decision.

Radolf bent down deeply towards her and then turned around and walked out of the room with his head held high. Even if he could feel how Makeias stared at his back.

"The next one then, pillager." Esdese called out. Bringing Makeias out from his little tantrum.

"Ahh, right." He said and looked down on his clipboard. Shouting out the next name as the meeting went on.

They managed to get through almost two hundred more cases without any incident. An hour and a half passing by before the next incident.

"The next one is the last survivor of a group called the Rakshasa demons, Suzuka." Makeias called out. Smiling mockingly at the name of the group on his papers. "Since her old group is completly destroyed, she currently has no clear part of the empire to join. Now that the old order is gone." he concluded.

The name meant nothing to Tatsumi but he quickly recognized the woman from her visit to him down in the dungeons so long ago. As well as his brief fight against her before that. Suddenly Esdese grip on the side of his stomach became much harder. She apparently recognized Suzuka as well. She pushed his body into her side so hard that his face was pressed agains the side of her breast. Her nails digging into the soft skin of his stomach.

"Ouch,ouch,ouch" he whispered. "Calm down girl. I'm here with you." He looked up at her. Her gaze was directed down at Suzuka who was kneeling down at the base of the stairs. Her eyes filled with cold and controlled anger. Tatsumi decided further emphasize his words and put an arm around her waist. Swallowing his embarrassment as his hand grabbed hold of the side of her butt. That did seem to calm her down, as her nails stopped digging into him. Her grip still too hard for comfort, though.

"You have some nerve to show yourself before me again." Esdese called out. Her tone icy and ominous. "I didn't think that you would be able to recover from our last encounter."

Suzuka looked up at her with warm and compassionate eyes. The opposite of what she was recieving from Esdese. "My body happily accepted everything that you gave me, great general Esdese." she called out in a dreamy voice. The lower part of her face was still wrapped in cloth.

"You will wish you hadn't." Esdese answered.

"I have come to give myself to you, great general." Suzuka called out. "I can think of no other path to take in life but to follow you. Now that all old loyalties are gone."

"Do you honestly think that I will let you into my military after you tried to steal that which belonged to me." Esdese asked rhetorically.

Suzuka's eyes momentarily moved over to Tatsumi. "Great general, you need to understand. I had no idea that you had laid claim to the prisoner already."

"Are you dim-witted then?" Esdese asked coldly. "You had a member of Wild hunt with you. I had already made a deal with that group. Your friend knew that you were trying to take what I had already reserved for myself."

"I swear to you, great general. I had no idea that the prisoner wa-"

"Tatsumi. His name is Tatsumi. He outranks you by far." Esdese corrected. A hint of anger creeping into her cold voice.

"We had no idea of what you had in mind for Tatsumi, great general. We just thought that you wanted to torture him yourself."

Esdese didn't say anything. Staring at her with unconcealed hostility. The room was completly silent. Tatsumi himself was kind of enjoying the situation.

"Please, great general. I offer myself to you! Please accept me into your forces."

"No." the answer was quick and hard. Guards in the back of the room started to move towards Suzuka.

Suzuka eyes looked uncertain. Not sure of what to do. "What now?" she said and turned her gaze to Makeias.

"You will be taken to the torture chambers." Esdese said. Making Suzuka's eyes turn back to her. "I will come down and take care of you personally when I get some time over."

Suzuka froze for some moments at those words. Then her eyes turned dreamy. "Thank you, Esdese." she sighed happily as the guards took hold of her arms and dragged her away.

Esdese looked at her for some moments. Then her hand came up from under Tatsumi's shirt. She grabbed his chin and bent down and kissed him. Deeply and strongly. Moving her tongue in between his lips with force. Demonstating to everyone in the room who he belonged to.

When she moved her mouth away from him, he whispered to her."You might want to think about how to handle that one. She is almost as much of a machochist as you are a sadist. I have heard."

Esdese gave him a questioning look as the guards walked out of the hall with Suzuka. He rarely encouraged her in her endeavours down in the torture chambers.

Tatsumi met her gaze. "Well... she did almost rape me, you know."

Esdese looked at him for some moments and then nodded."Leave it to me. I will make her wish that she had never been born."

Tatsumi smiled bitterly at her. "Her nature seem to overlap much better with yours than my own. Maybe she would be a better partner for you." he joked.

"Tatsumi." she said tenderly. "How many people like her do you think I have attracted since I became a general. Almost a third of my pets enjoy it when I hurt them. And I will admit that I have enjoyed playing around with them. But that is all they are. Toys and pets. If I happenend to break one, then there are many more like that woman who are willing to take their place."

She stroked his cheek with two fingers. "There is only one of you, Tatsumi. At least for me. You have taken my heart from me. My love lives and dies with you."

Tatsumi couldn't help but smile sadly at her. "And don't worry." Esdese continued. "I know how to handle people like her. After all, I do enjoy it more when I know that my victim isn't enjoying it in any way."

"So not even machochists get to enjoy themselves when facing your wrath then."

"I don't feel as fulfilled dominating someone if they want me to do it. That ruins half the fun. Don't look down on my desires." she said with a proud smile.

Tatsumi leaned in and stroked his chin against the side of her face. Throwing his embarrassment to the wind. "You know, it is those inclinations that make people call you a monster."

Esdese kissed him lightly on the cheek and whispered in his ear. "I. Don't. Care."

"I know." Tatsumi whispered back. "Believe me, I know."

Esdese straightened up a little bit and rested her chin against the top of his head as she watched how Makeias called out for the next warrior to step forth. By her side, Tatsumi was thinking if this changed the situation.

Did the fact that Suzuka would be down in the torture chambers change anything? He didn't think it would. Not that he cared the slightest about her but the fact that she was there might make it more likely for Esdese to visit that part of the palace. That might be a problem. But he didn't think it would be. He had made certain that Esdese would be busy most of the coming night either way.

His plans to save Leone tonight would not be affected by this.

* * *

Makeias slowly tapped his fingers on the extravagant table as the other leaders of the military started to move into the room and take their seats all around him. He had arrived some minutes before all of them and had been sitting there watching all the new arrivals. Most of them had been attending the same meeting the day prior but there were a few new faces. Most notably general Gallus who sat down some seats away from him after greeting everybody. Sitting down between the minister of internal affairs and the captain of the city watch.

This was the council of the great general. Gathered from those who controlled the military. It was standard practice to have this meeting everyday. Talking through progress and future plans. But Budo had never trusted Esdese or Makeias enough to let them sit on his own council so this procedure was relatively new to the both of them. Wherever Esdese actually needed these meetings was a bit more unclear.

Last to arrive was Esdese and Bellany. Everyone at the table rose up as Esdese walked in and then sat down when she had taken her seat at the end of the table. Makeias sitting closest to her on her right side. Bellany standing behind Esdese's chair.

Gallus was the first one to speak. "Before we begin, I would like to thank the great general for giving me the honor to be a part of this council."

Esdese nodded at him. "You will have to prove that I didn't make a mistake yourself." she said in a formal tone. "But now that you are here in the capital, I think it is time for the military to start dealing with some buisness outside of coping with Budo's treason. It is time that we finally deal with what has been a torn in the empire's side for too long. The group known as night raid."

Makeias gave Esdese a doubtful look. The rest of the table remained silent. Some nodding approvingly. "We have been hunting night raid ever since they were formed." general Gallus stated. "They are a hard group to catch or even trace. Do you have any lead or idea of how to catch them."

"I have always had an idea. Since I have always known how soft-hearted the leader of that group is. Budo was just too weak to capitalize on that."

Makeias didn't like where this was going.

"We have found out that night raid currently have their base in a trade city by the coast. The port city of Garu."

General Gallus crossed his hands over his huge belly. "This isn't the first time that we have known that night raid have been hiding in one of our cities, I've been told. The problem is that the moment we move in with any considerable forces they slink away and escape. And when we have sent a few hidden agents to kill them, it has always just turned into a cat and mouse chase."

"The reason why they have been able to escape us everytime is because Budo was too lenient in his operations. A mistake you will never find me repeating. We will smoke them out." Esdese answered.

"How?" Makeias asked. His voice empty.

"Night raid could earlier escape because they could hide amongst the population and trade caravans that passed through the cities they have been hiding in. I won't give them that opportunity."

"How?" Makeias repeated.

Esdese smiled at him."Simple. We will place our fleet around the port and make sure that no ships enters or leaves. At the same time we will also cut off all traffic going in and out off the city."

"We don't currently have an admiral for the navy." the minister said. "Since you killed the last one a week ago."

"I already have a substitute in mind." Esdese said. Thinking about one of her favorite subordinates.

"We have tried this before." Makeias said without looking at her. "They have just gone into hiding during those occasions and have then been able to escape after a month or two. Since it takes us forever to search through an entire city carefully enough to find a secret hideout."

"Ohh, I don't intend to give them that time. I will do what Budo couldn't. We will simple level the entire city with the ground in a day. Killing everyone in it."

The room was silent after that sentence. Gallus looked at Makeias, who was staring down at the table.

"Of course we will make sure that everyone knows that we will stop the extermination the moment night raid gives themselves up to us. That ought to make those that harbour them come to us. And I have a feeling that Najenda won't be able to just sit by and watch it happen. They will realize that it is a trap and walk into it nonetheless. They don't value themselves more important than an entire city of people."

The silence was deafning. _The worst part is that it will probably work_, Makeias thought. _Is this really how far things have escalated?_

Esdese leaned back into her chair. "Well then." She said and gestured with an open hand to the table."You are my council. Counsel me."

Makeias turned to the minister of internal affairs. "What is the population of Garu?"

"About 200 000 residents."

Makeias slowly leaned back into his chair and closed his eyes. Letting the others speak first.

Esdese looked at her council. "Well?" she demanded.

"You are now the great general, Esdese." the minister of internal affairs said. "The imperial court will support whatever action you find most prudent."

Esdese nodded.

"It is a great tragedy that all those innocent people need to die." General Gallus said in a deep and mournful voice. "But their sacrifices are necessary. Night raid has obstructed the way to peace for too long and I think this plan might work. I support this. God will sort out the good from the bad after we send them all to him."

_Lickspittle_, Makeias thought and gave the man a condescending look.

Even the captain of the city watch dared to speak up after that. "This is a wise plan. It will most certainly give results."

The same man who had loudly supported Budo some hours before he was killed. That was more than Makeias could take.

"I am starting to doubt that these meetings serve any purpose, great general." He said and leaned forward, looking at Esdese. She met his gaze with an interested expression. "This council serves little purpose to you if it just consists of fawning underlings and ass kissers."

"Fully agreed." Esdese said with a smile. Urging him to continue. Wanting to hear what he had to say. So that she could absorb his wisdom or punish him if he wasn't helpful. "Go on, Makeias."

Makeias couldn't help but notice that it was the first time today that she hadn't called him pillager. He had tried to be as helpful to her as he could during these last three weeks. Being as ruthless as he could and as effective as he could in order to gain her favor as they had reconstructed the military together. Hoping to make himself valuable to her, so that his position would be more secured.

But it had only partly worked. She clearly found him capable and in her own way she even respected him more, now that he had shown her how cruel he could be. But she still didn't consider him as her subordinate. That much was clear. She still didn't see him as one of her own. She still saw him as a threat. Keeping him around for the thrill of it. As well as for how useful he was. Her instincts once again saving her from making the mistake of trusting him.

"This is folly." he said and looked her in the eyes. "Night raid has not been a threat to us for almost twelve months. The symbolic danger they posed was only potent when they had the revolutionary army behind them. When they managed to help that force by taking out important and significant targets.

Esdese crossed her fingers in front of her mouth as she closely listened as Makeias went on.

"But the revolutionary army is broken and spread out. It's days has come and gone before our eyes. Now night raid is nothing more than a slight annoyance to us. Yet now you want us to not only give an entire army to this task but also sacrifice one of our trading cities for sake of catching two renegade teigu users? Folly."

"They have apparently been recruiting new members. Which they are training to use new teigus." General Gallus said.

"Two to five people in exchange for a city? This is neither efficient or worthwile. Your judgement has failed you here, great general." Makeias went on.

Esdese smiled at him. Her eyes alarmingly amused. "Say what you really think, Makeias. That is what I keep you around for."

Makeias looked at her for some moments and then did as he was bid. "You are just using this as an excuse to settle a vendetta with Najenda. You know that we have bigger issues at hand. You are just using the military to satisfy your own aspirations." he concluded.

Her voice was suprisingly warm when she answered. "This is why I keep you around, pillager."

"So you will heed my words?" Makeias questioned.

"No." She said and enjoyed the fear she saw hiding in Makeias's eyes at that word. "But I will admit that I am settling something between me and Najenda with this but that is not everything there is to this."

"What do you mean?"

"You will learn soon enough. But your advice was sound."she said and put her hands down on the table. Looking at her council. "I have great plans for the empire. And I will not allow these remnants of our old enemies to lie around and act as sand in our gears. It is time that we root them out, once and for all. No matter the cost."

"When will we begin?" Gallus asked.

"You will stay here in the capital, general Gallus. I will personally handle this together with Makeias. We will move towards Garu under the disguise of an inspection of the navy. We will move out first thing tomorrow morning. The longer we wait, the more likely it is that our plans will leak out and reach Night raid's ears. And then our operation will have little chance of succeding. No one but a few must know about this plan before it is made into a reality."

Makeias sighed."I had hoped that my new rank was only for show." he said and put the fingers on one of his hands on his forehead. Already dreading what was to come.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**I will atribute the delay of this chapter to easter celebration. Easter around my part has little to do with religion and a lot to do with drinking. So my productivity was pretty hampered by this. I lost almost three days. The next one won't take so long. I promise.**

**This chapter is the first one that moved into a part of the story that I hadn't planned when I started writing. So I choose to make this one reflect the prologue of the story. In the sense that most of it takes place during meetings. ****Many sentences in this chapter taken from the first entry to this story. ****Building up for what's to come while also showing what has been happening. Things will start moving on faster in the coming chapters. **

**As always, thanks for reading. I will start working on the next one asap. It will take seven days at most.**

**Now I got to run. Got places to be. Take care of each other and have a great day.**


	17. Hidden heroes

**Another deadline missed by far.**

* * *

**Hidden heroes.**

The room was almost completly dark. The only light that came into the padded cell was the little light that escaped in through the frame of the closed door. Making it almost impossible to see anything in the empty room. In the corner of it, Liza was sitting with her little brother, Jack.

Both of them were pretty small. Even if the blonde little girl did attend Makeias's meetings and was one of his more powerful warriors, she was still only eleven years old. And even if she was older in her mind, her body was still small. Even smaller though, was her little brother. Jack was only eight years old. His eyes and hair were crystal white and his body thin and feeble. Pushed in against the corner, Jack was completly obscured by his sister's long blond hair.

Liza clutched her little brother hard against her chest. Not letting him move away from her the slightest. The little eight year old would have had no chance to escape her grasp even without her supernatural strength. Even if she was still very young, Liza's strength had developed to be almost as fierce as her temper.

"You have to let me do it." the little boy said meekly.

"Like hell I have to! I won't let you." Liza growled back and held him even tighter.

"But I have to. Daddy would have wanted us to help Makeias."

"Then fuck dad! He left us all his troubles when he died." Liza hissed. "And fuck Makeias too. He has only given us sadness."

"Please Liza." Jack pleaded. "You got all of father's strength. I am just weak and small. This is all I can do."

"To hell with that. All you need to do is stay alive and be safe. You are all that I have left." Liza said and wrapped her legs around her little brother as well.

The smaller boy tried to struggle but Liza was way too strong for him.

"Please."

"No!"

"But I have to do something. I can't just look at you fighting."

"Yes you can!"

"Tom-Tom says that I am the only one who can use the teigu. Please, Liza."

"No!"

Liza looked over her shoulder, towards the door. She could hear steps closing in. And she recognized the voices that her supreme hearing could perceive.

"We are moving out tomorrow morning." she heard Makeias's troubled voice say.

"Is she really going to do it?" she heard Tom-Tom's voice question.

"You better believe it. This isn't the first time she has slaughtered thousands of people to reach her goal."

"So it will be like it was in the old days again?" Tom-Tom said. He sounded deeply bothered. "Isn't it time for us to act? Before this happens."

"I don't know. But we need to have everything prepared. Which is why.."

The door to the dark room opened and light flowed into the room. Momentarily blinding Liza's sight.

"..we have to do this now." Makeias said and walked into the room. Parts of his destroyed coat dragging behind him on the floor. Followed by Tom-Tom. Leaning on his long staff with the owl teigu sitting on his shoulder. It was only the two of them.

Liza turned around towards them. Pushing her struggling little brother in behind her in the corner. Trying to hide him from Makeias's sight.

Makeias eyes adapted to the darkness after some moments. His eyebrows rose slightly as he saw Liza inside the padded cell. He hadn't thought to find her with Jack and he didn't like the fact that she was there.

"Hi there, Liza."

All the answer he got was a vicious glare.

"As much as I enjoy your company, Liza, I have not come here for you. Can your brother come over here?"

"You promised me!" she snarled at him.

Makeias looked at her for some moments. "I have promised a lot of things, Liza. Yet I can't remember what promise you imply that I have broken."

"You said that you would help me protect Jack."

"Giving Jack more power is the same thing as protecting him." Makeias said calmly.

"Fuck off! I have seen what happens to those that goes through your, so called, conditioning."

"It won't hurt for him." Makeias said truthfully. He was well aware what she was talking about. All potential teigu users in his service that were deemed mentally weak or unstable were always brainwashed thoroughly. No exceptions could be made. He took a couple of steps towards her.

Liza backed further into the the corner. Forcing Jack against the wall behind her. "I will kill you if you try to take him from me right now."

Makeias stopped. The growth of Liza's power had been a scary thing to watch. Just during the two year she had been in his service, her strength and proficiency with violence had doubled many times over. If her instincts had been drawn to battle and suffering, she might have been a new Esdese in the making. Luckily she wasn't attracted to those kind of things so she would probably never develop and nurture her grimmer capabilities like the ice queen had.

Nonetheless, Liza did have a dangerous temper. She had always been hard to deal with but during the later days she had grown even more unruly. Makeias was considering if it might be time for her service to come to an end. Before she grew strong enough to actually be a threat to him. Even if just the thought of ending her hurt him greatly.

"I don't think you will, Liza." he said.

"Try me!" the little girl gnarled in response. A threatening smile spreading under her scared eyes.

Makeias was about to take another step towards her when he felt Tom-Tom's giant hand grab his shoulder. The big man walked past Makeias and took some slow and calm steps towards the angry and scared little creature. He crouched down when he reached her. His sad blue eyes meeting her fierce brown ones.

"Liza." he said in a deep and calm voice. "What does Jack want to do?"

"Curse you Tom-Tom!" Liza shouted, starting to lose the little cool she had. "How could you let Jack do this? I trusted you?!"

"Liza..." Tom-Tom said. His voice thick with grief. "We all struggle right now. I couldn't refuse Jack his one chance to make a diffrence."

"By letting him sacrifice his mind to become a weapon?!" she yelled at him.

"We don't know that. He might make it through the treatment." Tom-Tom tried to comfort her.

"Yes we do!" Liza shouted at him. Her eyes starting to fill with furious tears. "He is small and weak. He doesn't know anything about suffering."

One of Tom-Tom's giant hands grabbed her shoulder gently. "He does Liza. You know he does."

She pushed his hand off her. "Shut up! He is frail and powerless! I have to protect him! The world will eat him if I let it!"

"Liza..." ,Tom-Tom's voice was almost a whispered.

"I HAVE TO PROTECT HIM!" Liza screamed and threw a punch against Tom-Tom's face.

Tom-Tom had the sharpest instincts in his whole tribe and his age hadn't dulled them. He could see the the punch coming before she had even started to move her arm. But he didn't avoid it. He knew that a straight hit from her fist to his head could mean his end. But his instincts told him something else as well.

When the fist connected with his face, it lacked any force. Merely pushing his head slightly to the side.

Tears started to flow down Liza's face. "I have to protect him. He will die on his own."

She tried to punch Tom-Tom again but for some reason, she couldn't muster any strenght to her strikes. Her emotions stopping her. The hit accomplishing as little as the previous one.

"I have to defend him." she started to sob. Fiercly wiping away her tears with closed hands. "He is all I have left!"

Tom-Tom could almost feel his old heart break at the sight.

Tom-Tom had always loved children but his wife had sadly been barren. He had still loved her deeply and stayed with her until she was claimed by the war that Makeias brought to their lands. Tom-Tom had been looking after little Jack and Liza during the two years they had been working for the empire. After their father had died when saving Makeias in battle. It had only been two years but he had still come to regard the small children as his own.

His long wooden staff rattled against the floor as he dropped it. Wrapping both his huge arms around Liza as she began to cry loudly. Her sobbing bordering on screaming as she no longer could contain her sorrow. For once being unable to hide the simple fact that she was just an eleven year old girl. Trying and failing to cope with the harsh life she had been alloted. And a world that only seemed like it wished to hurt all the things she loved.

Makeias watched the scene unfold. He wanted to help in some way. To give comfort to them. But he couldn't. He had brought this on them. He had made it all happen. There was only one road left to him now. Only one way to give it a purpose. He stood in silence and watched them. Then he slowly took some steps around them and held out an open hand to Jack. Looking at the little boy with a sad smile.

Jack looked at his sister for some moments and then reached up and grabbed Makeias's hand. They walked out of the room together. Out into the white and bright corridor outside. Liza's wailing followed them. Filled with sadness and despair. The strong little creature at a loss on what she should do.

Jack listened to the cries and then turned his head up to Makeias when he couldn't hear them any longer. "Am I doing the wrong thing?" he asked Makeias. With all the uncertainty of youth.

"No, Jack. You are being vey noble right now." Makeias answered without looking at the boy. His gaze directed forward.

"But I made Liza very sad."

"It is only because she loves you so much." Makeias answered.

Jack turned silent for a little while. Thinking with what little knowledge about the world a eight year old could gather.

"Makeias?"

"Yes?"

"You knew father pretty well. Didn't you?"

"Yeah I did. I grew up with him. He was a close friend."

"Would he think that I was doing the right thing?"

Makeias didn't answer him for a while. The little boy tried to look at his face but Makeias didn't face him. After a long silence, Makeias spoke.

"Jack, why did you register into the teigu testing group?"

"Because I have to do something. Liza is fighting so hard. I have to help."

"Liza is a bit tougher than normal people, Jack. I think she can handle it pretty well."

"No, she can't." the little boy argued determinately."She cries a lot when she thinks I can't hear it. She misses dad as well."

Makeias didn't say anything as the child went on.

"I know that I am weak and small but I must help her. Just because my body is frail doesn't mean that I can let her do everything. Even if I probably won't be the same person after this."

The general looked up at the ceiling. He hadn't thought that Jack were aware of the effects this would have on him. "Heroes come in all sizes, it would seem."

They were silent for a little while as they continued to walk.

"Makeias?"

"Hmm?"

"Would dad think that I am doing good?"

Makeias couldn't make himself look at the boy. Not now. "Your father would be very proud of you, Jack." he managed to say. Leading the child towards his cruel fate. The son of his childhood friend.

Jack noticed that Makeias voice was thick and shaky but nonetheless, the little boy smiled. "Then I am happy."

Makeias didn't look at him but Jack felt how the general's hand squeezed a little bit harder around his own. As they walked to the clinic to brainwash him.

* * *

Wave and Kurome were sitting in the dining hall in the jaeger's quarters and eating their lunch when Esdese arrived together with general Gallus. The big man filling up the entire frame of the door as he walked in behind Esdese. Her long cloak flowing behind her. They were followed by a couple of scribes. Wave and Kurome immediately rose up and saluted their superiors. Both of them suprised by the visit.

"Great general." Wave said with a smile. "It is rare to see you here outside of our usual meetings."

"Yeah, I have been pretty busy during the last weeks." Esdese said and gazed at the young man. She looked him up and down a couple of times. Measuring him up with judgemental eyes. She nodded to herself. She was confident in her decision.

She gestured for him to come over with her hand.

"Let me just say that it is a huge honor to meet you ,general Gallus." Wave said as he walked up to the two generals."Your deeds are renowned throughout the empire. Many soldiers regard you as a hero."

The big man smiled humbly at the boy. His hands clasped around each other over his giant belly. "Thank you, my son. Your words are too kind." Gallus answered in a deep and friendly voice. "But I don't hold that belief myself. I am just a single man in a lucky position. It is important to understand that every man is capable of greatness and kindness. Everyone can be a hero. We all possess the human spirit and it's greatness must never be underestimated."

Esdese gave the general a tired look. She had only spent the afternoon with Gallus and his preaching was already starting to bore her. At least Makeias was fun to have around. She nodded to one of the scribes. The man immediately started to take forth some documents.

She turned her eyes to the young man in front of her. "Kneel, Wave."

The boy immediately did as he was ordered. Esdese liked how proud he seemed to be when he did it. She had many people around her that felt honored to be able to kneel at her feet but unlike most of them, she actually respected Wave. The fact that he was so proud to follow her was a compliment that she actually appreciated a little bit. It was time to reward him for that.

"Alright. General Gallus will be acting as witness and affirm my decision. The scribes are present to record this to all the affected institutions." One of the scribes walked up with two documents to Gallus which he signed with an feather dipped in ink. Provided by another scribe.

"I'm sorry to do this to you like this, Wave, but it is necessary for an upcoming operation. You will get a proper inauguration ceremony later. With all the celebration and honor that warrants."

Wave looked up at her with confusion. A hint of fear creeping into his expression.

"Last week we lost one of our more important military officials. Since he refused to denounce Budo during his reinstation. I am sure you know who I am talking about." Esdese said with a hard smile. Looking down at Wave. "I have come here to fill that vacant title. Hopefully."

Wave's jaw dropped. Realizing what was about to happen. The scribes moved up to Esdese and gave her the feather dipped in ink. Holding up the documents for her.

"With general Gallus as witness, I will hereby make full use of the power given to my by the title of great general. Granted to me by the empire." She reached down and signed the two papers."By affixing my signature to these documents, I appoint Wave of the jaegers to the position of admiral over the empire's collected navy."

Wave's eyes widened. Even if he had been able to guess where this was going, it was still slightly shocking to hear those words. Just with a single signature, Esdese had just made him into a general. Not only that, she wanted to make him the empire's admiral. In charge of the entire navy.

She turned her eyes to him. "Wave of the jaegers. Will you serve?"

He stammered his response. "Great general.. Esdese.. I.. I don't know what to say. Are you sure that you don't have someone more capable for this type of job?"

She crossed her arms over her chest and smiled at him."Do you question my judgement?"

"No, of course not." Wave said and looked down at her feet again.

"I could probably find someone that would be more used to this sort of task. But it is you that I want in this position."

"But.. but I have never been in such a big leadership role before. I don't even know much about the imperial navy's administration."

"Leadership is as much about knowing what your limits are, as it is about knowing what you actually can do." general Gallus reassured. "You will meet many challenges as a leader that you just can't solve yourself. A good leader surrounds himself with competent people. Since no single human can do everything themself."

Esdese took one of the two documents and reached out with it to Wave. "Will you serve?" she asked again.

Wave looked at the paper and then at Esdese. Her smile encouraging. He reached up and took the paper from her. The proof of his new rank. "I will do my best, commander."

She nodded at him. "I know you will. Now rise."

Gallus patted Wave on the shoulder as he stood up. "Congratulations, my son. I know you will do well. I look forward to working together with you."

Wave smiled at the big man and then turned his gaze back to Esdese. "What about my jaeger duties? I will not have enough time to work in both roles."

"I am going to disband the jaegers. The group was created in order to deal with night raid and what little threat they pose will now soon be gone." Esdese said nonchalantly.

Wave felt a bit of sadness bubble up in his chest. He had come to identify the jaeger status as both a part of his identity but also the group itself had come to act as a family for him. Even now that there only were three of them left. If he counted Tatsumi. His time in the group had been such a big part of his life. He looked over at Kurome. The girl had remained in the background. Silently standing on the other side of the table. She met his eyes when he looked at her but he couldn't determine the feelings behind her gaze. As usual.

Esdese noticed Wave's sad look at Kurome. "Don't worry. You both still belong to me. I have positions in mind for all three of you jaegers."

Wave looked at Esdese with suprise as she went on.

"You are still among my best subordinates. But I am no longer just a field-general. Now I lead the entire military. If you want to continue working closely under me, then you can no longer just be a special police force. I no longer have time to dedicate myself to such small tasks."

She adjusted her hair with one arm and looked at Wave. "Which is why I put you in control over the navy, Wave. I want my own people in the more powerful positions within the military. I think you will adapt to the task."

Wave felt a little bit torn about the current state of the military. He still hadn't fully recovered from Budo's cruel death and watching some of his friends within the imperial guard get brutually murdered by Esdese. He had always believed in the fairness of the great general and his imperial guard. And while even Budo himself had admitted that he intended to break military law, Wave had still thought that the man seemed just.

Wave couldn't help but also notice how cruel Esdese's overtaking of the rest of the military had been. The last weeks had been a time of fear and uncertainty for the imperial military. But he was still loyal to to her. She had given him so many chances and opportunities and now she had made him into one of the leaders of the military. It was clear that she regarded him as one of her underlings. One of her own. And she took care of her own.

Wave had spent the last three weeks trying to offer reassurance and stability to every part of the military that he had worked with. And now his ability to do so had improved tenfold because of this new rank that Esdese had bestowed upon him. She had given him a chance to make a diffrence. A real diffrence.

He clenched his fist around the document. "Thank you for this, Esdese. Really, thank you." he said with a smile filled with gratitude and emotion.

Esdese could feel the emotions behind his words. Appreciating that her gift had served it's purpose and also made Wave this happy. She even liked the feelings he was emitting enough to ignore the fact that he had left out her rank during what was supposed to be a military meeting.

"Thank me by doing your best while in my service, Wave."

"I always will, great general." he almost shouted and saluted her.

She nodded at him and turned her gaze to Kurome. "I have a spot in mind for you as well, Kurome. Don't think that I have forgotten you."

Kurome looked at Esdese for some moments and then slowly shooke her head. "I would rather stay and work with Wave, commander."

Esdese gave the girl a empty look. She had a pretty good idea of what was going on. "I know that this might sound hypocritical but you should try to seperate your duty from your pastime, Kurome."

"Even so. I work best together with Wave." Kurome said and met Esdese's gaze.

Esdese studied the younger girl for some moments. Her arms still crossed over her chest. If that was the reward she wanted for her good service then Esdese guessed that she could humor Kurome for the time being. "Fine, I will let you work as Wave's bodyguard for now but I might force you into a diffrent position later on. And now I will give the title that would be your reward to Tatsumi instead."

Kurome seemed completly indiffrent to that. She just nodded at Esdese. "Thanks, commander."

Esdese turned her attention back to Wave. "Now we have some rather important things to discuss, admiral. The reason why I made this promotion so informal is because I will be conducting a big operation tomorrow that requires the empire's navy. So I need to discuss some classified imformation with you."

"Okay?" Wave said. His new job beginning faster that he had anticipated."What is the operation?"

Esdese smiled at him."We are going to visit the port city of Garu."

* * *

Akame slipped through the busy street. Robes covering everything but her eyes as she walked through the crowd. Not drawing any attention to her. Invisible in plain sight.

The sun scorched down on the lively trade city. There was not a cloud to be seen and Akame started to wish that she had some way to disguise herself that didn't require so much cloth. She had to completly conceal her appearance since her resemblance was well known among the agents of the empire. And those could be hiding anywhere.

She moved into a less crowded street and then entered an old and abandoned storage house. Finding the trap doors and moving down several small stairs. After identifying herself to hidden guards, she found herself in the lounge room of their temporary hideout.

The room wasn't that big. The hidden area under the storage house didn't offer that much in regards to comfort or luxury. But it had served their organization well and was deemed one of their safer hideouts. The room was dimly lit and had a sofa and some weapon racks and drawers in it. There were some people walking around in the hideout. Diffrent agents and informers of the revolutionary army.

Najenda was sitting on the sofa in the middle of the room. Papers spread out over a table in front of her. She nodded to Akame as she walked up to her. Najenda had an agent of the revolutionary army sitting beside her. A young boy. Helping her organize the papers.

"Did everything go well?" Najenda asked.

"Yeah, they are both doing their best. But I don't know if any of them will be able to use a teigu in the end."

Najenda nodded again. "We will just have to see. They have trained to become members for a long while now. They will soon have to test their abilities in a real scenario."

Akame looked down on the papers as she began to take off some of the cloth obscuring her face. "News?"

"Yup." Najenda said and gestured to the papers in front of her. "Troubling ones at that."

"Tell me." Akame said and took of the last of her excess clothing. Revealing her usual attire hidden under her disguise.

"Well, first of all, our spies say that the imperial army is sending a considerable force to this city. A large part of the imperial fleet has also began gathering to this position."

"Any confirmed reason?"

"The given order is that there is going to be an inspection of the navy but I am not fully convinced."

"Have they announced who it is that will be leading the ground forces over here?"

"No and that is the first thing that is weird. At first I guessed that they were coming here to announce the new admiral of the empire. Since Esdese killed the last one a week ago, if our sources are to be believed. That would explain why this has been so sudden. But if that is the case, then why are they converging here instead of one of the two larger port cities? And why are they keeping who will be leading this operation a secret?"

"Do you think they have been able to find out that we have been hiding here the last weeks?" Akame asked.

"Maybe. It's hard to be sure. They could just be gathering here because of logistical reasons and they might just not have decided on who will be leading the operation yet."

"But you don't think so?"

Najenda shook her head. "Esdese runs the show now. I doubt that she would be indecisive in her orders. Though I will admit that my sucpicions are based on a gut feeling more than anything."

"Can't we just go into hiding like we have done before then." the agent sitting beside Najenda asked.

"Well, that is what we will have to do, either way. We can't leave the city just yet. Not now that we have finally managed to establish contact with the one in the sea."

"How is the training of the beast going?" Akame asked.

"I am almost hesitant to call it a dangerbeast." Najenda said. "Since it is intelligent enough to communicate with us on such an advanced level. But our communications are going smoothly. We seem to have been able to establish that we are allies now. The next step is to convince it to leave the ocean to come and fight for us."

"How long do you think it will take to do so?" Akame wondered.

"Hard to say. It does consider us as it's friends already and would be willing to fight with us but I am unsure of how far inland it is willing to travel. Since it has lived in the ocean it's entire life."

"Have you seen the beast, Akame?" the younger boy asked. His eyes filled with wonder.

Akame nodded to him. "It is the biggest living creature I have ever seen. It is quite terrifying actually."

"It is worth the risk of staying here." Najenda said and leaned back. Picking out a cigarett from a pocket. "Some well timed and well cordinated raids with that beast on our side could lay wast to entire legions of imperial soldiers. As long as we can protect it from a few troublesome teigu users."

"So we are staying?" Akame said.

"Yeah." Najenda said and lit her cigarett. "It is risky but we are pressed into a corner. We need to take risks if we are going to be able to turn the tide of this war. Unless we can pull of some crazy moves like this, we have already lost."

Akame nodded. "Talking about risky moves..."

Najenda looked slightly annoyed."No, we haven't heard anything new from our newest member yet. He is still inside the palace in the capital. Allegedly."

"I still don't like that he became a member before anyone but you coud meet him." Akame said with an empty voice.

"This is a military operation. Not a secret club. I call the decisions." Najenda said in a hard voice.

"I know that." Akame defended. "I don't object to your judgement in regards to making him a member. But giving the man a teigu when he has only been a part of our organization for a couple of weeks is a big risk."

Najenda smiled at Akame. Her voice turning a bit more gentle. "I know, Akame. But as I said, we have take risks now. And besides, it is all in order to save Leone."

"Do you trust the boy fully then?"

Nejanda slowly shook her head as she looked at her old friend."No, I do not. In many ways, his mission to save Leone will be his test. Yet I am willing to throw away a teigu for a chance to save Leone. Especially since it's earlier user was killed some months ago and we still haven't been able to find a replacement."

"Yet this boy showed full compability with it immediately?" Akame asked.

"Yeah, it was almost eerie how well it worked with him. If it hadn't been such a complete resonance between him and the teigu, I would not have given it to him. Considering that Bulat died to bring down the original owner of that teigu."

Akame still looked doubtful but kept her mouth shut. Najenda leaned forward a bit and spoke ni a more silent voice."You have followed my lead through all these years Akame. Trust me in this, as you have trusted me before."

Akame looked at her superior for some moments and then nodded. "You said that he had experienced the cruelty of the empire himself already?"

"Yeah, I had some of our sources verify his story and it seems like he had a couple of his closer friends tortured to death by Esdese herself. After they had tried to punish one of her subordinates who in turn had killed one of their friends before that. It seemed like he has had enough of injustice after that blatant favoritism. Despite the fact that he had managed to climb rather high up in the military."

"When will he attempt to break her out?"

"Tonight. If everything has gone as he has planned during these last weeks. First he will attempt to get Lionelle and then he will try to free Leone. Some of our agents are waiting to help him out as soon as he leaves the center of the capital with her."

"Both the teigu and Leone? That is quite ambitious. Don't you think he is biting of more than he can chew?"

"I have no idea, honestly. He has a very useful teigu in his possesion now. So maybe. Anyway, all we can do is wait and hope."

Akame sighed. She hated feeling this restless. She walked over and sat down beside Najenda. "I wish we could do more right now."

"I know what you mean." Najenda said and blew out some smoke. "We should have some drinks later tonight. We all need to relax now and then."

Akame gave her superior a faint smile. "Yeah. That would be nice. Besides, it might be our last time to relax for a while."

* * *

The corridors of the inner palace had started to grow a bit more desolate as Tatsumi moved to meet up with Wave. The day was growing late and the sun had started to set. The light shining in through the windows growing weaker.

Tatsumi wore his brown cloak and had Incursio strapped over his back. He moved as quickly as he could without drawing unwanted attention to himself. He was already very nervous. But this could wait no longer. He had to do this tonight. He had to free Leone.

He had tried to seem as apathetic as he could during the times when he had asked Esdese about what she had done on her little free time these last weeks. Hoping that she would mention what she had been doing in the torture chambers. Hoping to learn about what had happened to Leone so far. But Esdese had not gone into anymore detail than just telling him that she had spent some time in the torture chambers.

He couldn't be more specific in his questions or else it might seem suspicious. Troubling enough, Esdese's wits had always been rather sharp. She would probably start to connect the dots if Leone escaped after Tatsumi had started to ask questions about her. So he didn't know exactly how bad Leone's condition was. He was hoping that he was not too late but he didn't know. He had to try nonetheless though. He owed her that much at least.

He had postponed this far longer than he had originally intended but he had been forced to do so for several reasons. He had planned to solve this as soon as Esdese became the great general. Since now, only the emperor held could order her around. Which meant that the prime minister was the only real enemy for Tatsumi. Everyone else would not be able to sway Esdese's decisions. So Tatsumi knew that if he was discovered, then he would still be allowed to live. He would probably live the rest of his life chained up in one of Esdese's rooms but he would live. And life was full of possibilities. Everything he had planned would still have a chance to come to fruition as long as he was still alive.

So he had planned to free Leone three weeks ago when Esdese took over the military but he had been unable to do so. Simply because he had been to busy. He had been assigned high profile tasks every singel day and Esdese had demanded his presence during the nights. Somebody would always notice if he was gone for an hour or two. And if Leone was freed during those hours then the accusations would follow quickly.

Not that he wouldn't be on the suspect list either way. But now Esdese was great general and unless there was some strong proof against him, she would not allow anything to happen to him. And he would leave no such evidence.

He only had one real threat right now, Tatsumi reflected as he walked down some long stairs.

The prime minister.

During Budo's short lived rebellion, Tatsumi had realized that the prime minister was on his trails. The fact revealed by Izou attacking him out of nowhere when Esdese wasn't around. That order could only have come from one place.

But to Tatsumi's dismay, he hadn't been able to find out anything else during these last three weeks. The prime minister was a master of deceit and manipulation. He left no trails and no clues about what he was planning or thinking. Tatumi had used all of his resources and contacts yet nothing had given any results. Nothing seemed to indicate that the prime minister wanted him dead. But Tatsumi was certain that he did.

And that told Tatsumi a couple of things. It meant that the prime minister knew that Tatsumi was up to something but he probably didn't know the specifics. If he had been aware of what Tatsumi was trying to do more specifically, then he would have simply revealed it to Esdese and then it would be over. But Esdese hadn't been more inquisitive about Tatumi's whereabouts than usual these past weeks. So Tatsumi could probably assume that the prime minister didn't have any evidence against him. Yet.

But Tatsumi had started to look over his shoulder a bit more than usual now. He still didn't know what the prime minister had in store for him. And he still didn't know if he had a leak somewhere. He suspected that someone was informing the prime minister about him but he didn't know who. Which was a huge disadvantage in this insidious battle of information between him and the prime minister.

Most people would probably say that it was a very risky move to try and save Leone right now but it didn't matter. He had to do this. He owed her this. He had to take a risk and try. She deserved that much from him.

He had fixed his alibi for the night already. Several sources would attest to seeing him walking around down in the whoring districts. An area where most people tried to be discreet and don't attract attention. And he had seen to it that Esdese would be occupied this night. Or so he hoped. He had left that task to his friend.

He walked into another corridor and caught sight of said friend. Wave was standing at the end of the room. Leaning against the wall.

Tatsumi called out his name but Wave didn't react. He was staring down on his boots with his hands in his pockets. Tatsumi walked up to him. His friends apperance worried him.

Wave looked like he had seen a ghost. He was pale and his gaze was empty. He looked really vacant. Like his mind and feelings were somewhere very far away.

"Hey, are you okay?" Tatsumi said and put a hand on his friend's shoulder. Wave jumped a bit into the air when Tatsumi touched him. His eyes suddenly focusing on him.

"Ah.. oh, hi Tatsumi. How are you?" he said. Stumbling over his words.

"I don't think that is the big question right now. Has something happened, Wave? You look like you're on your way into a psychological shock."

"No, don't worry about it Tatsumi. It's nothing." Wave said dismissively. Completly unconvincing.

Tatsumi didn't let go of Wave's shoulder. "It's clearly something." he objected.

Wave straigthened up. "Let's not talk about it, Tatsumi."

"Wave, you're obviously not okay. What has happened?" Tatsumi insisted.

"Nothing has happened, Tatsumi." Wave said. _Not yet_, he thought.

"Wave." Tatsumi demanded.

"Okay, let me rephrase myself then, Tatsumi." Wave said. Looking annoyed. Tatsumi liked that much better. For some moments he thought that his friend was falling down into a trauma-induced shock but the capacity for irritation indicated that Wave's state was not that bad.

"It's not that I don't want to talk to you about whats troubling me." Wave said. "I literally can't. I am ordered not to."

_Which means that someone higher ranked than a jaeger is imposing silence on you, _Tatsumi reasoned. Still unaware of his friend's recent promotion.

"You will find out what it is that is troubling me sooner or later. But not from me right now." Wave concluded.

Tatsumi didn't like the sound of that at all. Considering his troubles with the prime minister lately. But he decided to put focus on the task at hand. "Will you still be able to help me with this, Wave? If you're not up for it then I want to know it. I would prefer to call this off if you aren't feeling very stable right now."

"No, I can do it." Wave said and took his hands out of his pockets. "This is important to you, right?"

"Yeah. It really is."

"Then let's do it!" Wave said and punched his fist into his hand.

Tatsumi nodded and they started walking down the corridor.

Tatsumi had told Wave that he needed a night alone in order to regain some of his strength. Telling the other boy that he wanted a chance to visit some friends that had fallen out of fortune with the new order of the military. That was the lie that he had constructed in order to request for Wave to buy him a night with some sort of distraction. And Wave had bought it. He had already been looking for a chance to help Tatsumi in some way.

Tatsumi didn't know what kind of distraction Wave had in mind but he trusted his friend in this. He had worked long enough with Esdese to know what would work and how far he should try to push his luck with.

"Do you have any idea of where she is right now?" Tatsumi asked.

"She should be down in the torture chambers right now. Dealing with that woman from the four demons.. what was her name again?"

Tatsumi heart almost skipped a beat at those words but he didn't show anything. "Suszuka was her name, I think. How do you intend to distract her?" he asked. Trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. If Esdese was going to be in the torture chambers this night then he might as well call this off right now. As long as she was down there, setting Leone free would be impossible.

"I am going to challenge her to a duel." Wave said with a cocky smile.

Tatsumi just stared at him for a long while. His expression empty. "Please tell me I heard wrong."

"Don't think you did, man. I am gonna demand a sparring match with her."

"Have you hit your head on something, Wave?"

"Ohh it won't be that bad, Tatsumi. Besides, this is the only way. She is usually down in the torture chambers around this time of the day. It would be hard to draw her out of there without putting something like this on the table."

Tatsumi couldn't deny Wave's logic. Fighting was one of the few things that could draw her attention away from torture. "I hope you know what you're doing, Wave."

"Don't worry. I know how far to push her. I won't be insulting her or anything. I will just need to be very enthusiastic in order to get her to come with me."

"That dosen't sound reassuring at all. Besides, Wave, a match between you and her will be over pretty quickly. I had hoped you would buy me some more time than that."

"As I said, don't worry about it, Tatsumi. There will be a few... hindrances on our way to the training halls and then I have some ideas of how to make her want to prolong the match."

Tatsumi didn't like this plan but it was far too late to back down now. "Don't push yourself to hard. I would prefer if you didn't get any serious damage while doing me a favour."

"I trust the commander. Either way, Kurome will be there as well. I think it will be fine. " Wave said. Sounding a little bit too relaxed for Tatsumi's liking.

"I hope you know what you're doing." Tatsumi said as they walked on. They finally reached the point where Tatsumi couldn't follow Wave without looking like he was heading towards the torture chambers himself. After some quick good luck wishes, they parted ways. Tatsumi walked on for a little while. Passing a couple of corners. Then, when he was sure that no one was around, he activated Incursio and turned himself invisible.

He doubled back as silently as he could. He caught up to Wave just as the other boy was entering the huge doors that led to the torture chambers. Tatsumi decided to stay outside and wait. He jumped up on top off a doorframe in the corridor outside of the entrance. Doing everything he could to conceal his presence. Esdese could almost detect him when he was invisible but only if she completly focused and he was moving around. She wouldn't have any reason to be on edge now and Wave would hopefully be distracting her.

He waited there for almost half an hour. He had expected that it would take a little while before they would come out since Esdese would have to change cloths. Since she usually wore other cloths in the torture chambers. Torture being the messy buisness that it was. But now it had taken a bit too long.

He was starting to wonder if Wave had failed to bait her out when the big doors opened up and Esdese walked out in her uniform. Taking long and brisk steps with Wave following a meter behind her. She seemed to be in quite a good mood.

"I must say that as your commander, I am proud of your courage, Wave. I will reward you by showing you some new things that I have been wanting to try out. Keep your eyes open and you might learn a bit. If you don't dissapoint me, I might even give you some special training after this. If you will still be able to stand, that is." Esdese said without looking back at him.

"Thank you, commander. I look forward to it!" Wave said with gusto. Concealing his fear with faked enthusiasm.

Tatsumi stayed absolutely still as they moved on down the corridor. Heading for the closest training hall. Esdese praising Wave in the most menacing way as their voices slowly faded. It seemed like she hadn't noticed him.

When Tatumi could no longer hear them, he waited for another ten minutes. Then he quickly jumped down on the floor and moved into the torture chambers. Heading for the horrible place that were Esdese's personal torture rooms.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**Ok... ok. So this update was delayed with almost four days. I keep promising that I will bring the next chapter in 7 days almost every time yet most chapters ends up being delayed for 2-3 days more than that. I think it is just the reality of my situation right now. So I will now start to say 8-10 days as a standard instead. So the next one will be released in 8-10 days.**

**Anyway, another transistional chapter. It has been 2 in row now. I hope you are not losing interest. It is necessary for what is to come. A lot of things are about to go down so the coming chapters will be a bit more "action-oriented".**

**I was too busy to notice it last time but this story now has more than 200 followers. Thanks a lot everyone! I know that it is just an arbitrary number but it still makes me happy. And it gets me fired up to get more done with this story. So thanks a lot for reading, commenting, following and so on.**

**Take care of each other and have a great day!**


	18. In the home of suffering

**Hey, the new schedule works.**

* * *

**In the home of suffering.**

Tatsumi moved through the corridors in the torture chambers. Moving towards Esdese's personal rooms at great speed. Incursio's invisibility hiding him from everyone he passed by. Esdese had a couple rooms that were reserved for her. Located in the deeper parts of this horrible section of the palace. Tatsumi had been in these parts many times before but he still found it really unpleasant to be down there.

The smell in these rooms and halls were horrible. A mix of piss, shit, blood and guts permeated every room. Screams could always be heard in the distance and every room that he passed offered difffrent noises. Ranging from everything from pleading turning into screaming to gurgling sobbing from people who no longer were able to talk. Tatsumi had spent a lot of time here during his early days as a jaeger. Back when Esdese took him with her wherever she went.

Tatsumi was well aware that if his now grimmer and more hardened nature could be blamed on one singel thing, it was the time he had spent down here. The fact that he had grown so cold and calculated was simply because he was a bit more resilient and jaded now. And it was all because of this hellish place. Something within him had died in these cold and dark rooms. Something that was never coming back. It's death making him into what he now was.

That and Mine's death.

Tatsumi reached the doors leading into Esdese's rooms. Guards were posted outside of the door. Two rather competent warriors. One with a sword in his belt and the other one holding a spear. Tatsumi couldn't see who they were. Their helmets covered their faces. He didn't slow down as he checked that there was no one else around.

When he reached them, Tatsumi put all his strength into a vicious punch with his right hand. Hitting one of the guards straight in the chest. Pushing the man's body up against the wall behind him with the hit. Crushing all his ribs and puncturing both his lungs. Before the guard started to fall down, Tatsumi grabbed the sword attached to the man's belt and drew it as he spinned around. Slitting the other guard's throat as his spin came to an end. Killing the man before he could react.

Tatsumi had already started to look through the mans pockets before his body hit the ground. He found what he was searching for almost immediately. The keys. He opened the doors with lightning speed and then threw both the bodies into the room before walking into it himself and locking the door behind him. It was all over in less than fifteen seconds.

He turned around and looked into the room he had jumped into. He sighed in relief when he saw that it was empty. He hadn't expected anyone to be in it but he was relieved nonetheless. This was the room where Esdese kept her tools, drugs and records. The room had racks, drawers and desks in it. Containing all the things that she might have need for during her sessions. It also had a cabinet where she kept the diffrent clothes she might need.

He had been here many times before. In his early time with Esdese. When she had realized that watching her work down here had started to damage Tatsumi mentally, it had been this room that she had started to bind him down in while she went on with her business.

Tatsumi kicked the bodies of the guards to the side. Dropping the sword on the floor beside them. Their deaths had been necessary. He could not have anyone knowing that he was here and just knocking them out would mean that they would later be able to tell people that they had been unable to see their attacker. That would make people think about Incursio.

Tatsumi walked over to one of the tables in the room. The one covered with small notebooks and papers. Turning visible in order to conserve his energy. Two bloody gloves lay at the side of the table. Making Tatsumi think that what he was searching for was at that table. He found it lying on the top of it. A small black book where Esdese wrote down her ideas and what she had been doing down in these rooms.

Sometimes, Tatsumi wished that Esdese had been nothing more than a simple brute who just enjoyed hurting and killing people. The fact that she wasn't made things much more complicated for him. Cause while she did enjoy those things, she was far from dull. Esdese was inquisitive and curious. Always trying to learn new things. Searching for diffrent thrills and sensations. Experimenting with her ideas and theories on her victims. Entertaining herself with their reactions. Her self-gratification also granting her knowledge.

She recorded most of her proceedings down here into this book. As well as her ideas and plans. Tatsumi almost felt his hands shake as he started to turn the pages in it. Searching for the page about Leone. He was about to learn if he was too late or not. After a little while, he found her page. He could almost feel his heart stop when he saw how long the entry about her in the book was.

His eyes immediately traveled down to the bottom of the page. Leone's current state summarized in Esdese's beautiful handwriting.

**"Alive and unbroken."**

Tatsumi took a deep breath. _Thank the gods , _Tatsumi thought. He wasn't too late. He steadied himself internally and started to read through the entire page. Seeing if Leone would be able to move around with him. It was a heartwrenching read. Esdese had given Leone a lot of attention. She had experimented with Lionelle and Leone a great deal.

When Tatsumi had read through it all he swallowed and smiled bitterly. _You stubborn woman_, he thought and turned around. Walking to one of the doors leading into the other rooms. The rooms where Esdese actually played around with her victims.

He turned invisible again, opened the door and went into the next room. It seemed like Leone had been moved around down in the torture chambers but as luck would have it, she seemed to be in one of these rooms right now. According to Esdese's writing. Tatsumi only needed to find her.

The first room he entered had chains and hooks hanging down from the ceiling. The floor was dark with old blood and two naked people were hanging from the chains in the corner of the room. No one of them moved or made a sound. Tatsumi assumed that they were dead but they could just be very weak. Their bodies seemed relatively untouched. He couldn't see any trace of Leone there so he moved on.

He walked into the next room. It was a lot bigger than the earlier one. It had a big iron basin in the middle of it with a firelpace under it. The pot like container, huge enough to fit two or three people in it. Right now filled with murky water. Tatsumi could guess what it was used for. He didn't even dare to walk over and see if someone was in it at the moment. The room was completly quiet and Tatsumi could not see anyone else in it. He decided to move on immediately. The silence in the room made him feel like something was gonna jump out of the giant pot and come for him.

Tatsumi didn't understand how Esdese could feel comfortable in these rooms. Every new one he walked into looked like a scene from a nightmare. Yet he knew that Esdese didn't fear the same things that others did. Blood, gore and death were all natural things to her. Tatsumi knew that she didn't feel threatened at all down here. Rather the opposite actually. She was the apex predator and she often prowled these halls. In search for gratification and entertainment.

He recognized the room he walked into next. He had been there before. It was filled with benches and chairs. Designed with bindings and belts to chain people down into them with. Most of them were empty but a few were occupied with people. All damaged to diffrent degrees. The room aslo contained a couple of big wooden boxes that Tatsumi hadn't seen before. Spread out across the floor. A firelpace was burning on the left side of the room. Diffrent metal tools being heated in it. Aside from the silent crackling of the fire, the room was quiet.

Tatsumi was about to move on to the next room when he spotted Suzuka. She was sitting in a chair against a wall. Bound to it with belts. She was completly naked and slouched forward.

Tatsumi took a couple of steps towards her. She seemed to be relatively unhurt. She had a couple of bruises and she looked really pale but nothing more than that. But she did have some bandages wrapped over her eyes. Tatsumi assumed that Esdese had destroyed them. It was only when he got close to her that he noticed that something was sticking out against the bandages from under them. Something looking rather pointy.

Tatsumi took a sharp breath at the sight. Suddenly Suzuka head moved up and faced his direction.

"Esdese, is that you?" She mumbeld. "Have you returned for me?"

Suzuka had been sent down here this morning so it seemed like Esdese had made her into a prioritized activity. Tatsumi felt a bit of guilt but no pity. He knew that he had egged Esdese on to take care of Suzuka quickly. Her sudden movement did cause him to take a quick step backwards though. And when he did, one of his feet bumped into one of the boxes on the floor. The box moved a couple of inches to the side.

And then it started to scream.

The box started to shake and scream. The noise loud and shrill. Filled with pain and panick but lacking any words. Tatsumi looked at the box in horror as it rattled on the floor. It was way too small for a man to fit inside. Unless the person didn't have any limbs anymore. Or if it was a child.

Suddenly the silent room erupted in screams. Everyone that had been quiet started to shout and scream at the sudden noise. All the boxes started to emitt screams and moans. All those stuck on the benches and chairs starting to cry out.

"Where are you, Esdese?" Suzuka screamed out."Please don't do this to me, please let me feel it!" she called out in a desperate voice. Tatsumi felt his panic rise at all the sudden noises. His sharp instincts overpowered and numbed by the heightened volume. He turned around and leaped out of the room. Fleeing through a couple of rooms in illogical panic. Afraid that the noises would attract someone.

He ran through the next couple of rooms. Passing by one just like the previous one he had been in and after that he passed by something akin to a waste room. Filled with boxes full of discarded tools and two big piles of dead bodies. A few bodies hanging impaled on giant spikes, rising from the floor. Victims that Esdese wanted to remember or still studied after their death.

The third room he ran through was empty with the exception of a couple of iron poles and some people. Bound to the poles with long leashes. Tatsumi only needed a glance at them to see that these people were already broken mentally. They were all completly naked and and most of them were crawling around on all fours. Only a few seemed to be able to still talk.

Tatsumi recognized a few men and women that were leashed to the poles from the leaders of the imperial guard. Those whose will had been too strong to be coved by fear and their loyalty too fierce to abandon Budo's ideals. Even after his death.

Now it was easy to see that their will was broken and they no longer remembered anything about loyalty.

Tatsumi ran through the room and couple more after that. And then he finally found what he was searching for. He jumped through yet another door, entering a new room and there she was. Finally.

The room was a little bit smaller then the previous ones. Lit up by candles in old chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. It only contained one person. Chained naked to the wall opposite to the door. Some trolleys with diffrent horrible tools upon them were standing beside her.

"Leone.." Tatsumi called out. He made himself visible and started towalk towards her.

She seemed to have been asleep but was now starting to wake up. To say that she looked horrible would be an understatement. She was thinner than the last time he had seen her. Probably a side effect of the constant stress her body had endured. She was pale to the point when it looked unhealthy. Her body was covered in scars. Usually Lionelle healed the wounds so perfectly that ther were no traces of them afterwards, so Tatsumi had to assume that the Teigu had been taken from her before it could fully heal her. Another testament to that was Leone's right eye. Even when it was closed, Tatsumi could tell that it was completly ruined. A trail of blood trailing down her face from it.

Even so, Tatsumi was suprised that she didn't look worse off. He had read all the things that Esdese had done to her in the notebook. And all the experimentation that Leone had been through at the ice queens hands. He was almost suprised that he still recognized her. Lionelle's powers truly were amazing. The question was how she was mentally. Esdese had written "unbroken" in the book but that could just mean that she was still capable of talking and acting like a human being.

"Leone." he called out again. This time a little louder.

This time Leone opened her remaining eye and looked at him. But her gaze was unfocused and confused.

"Tatsumi?" she called out weakly. It was clear that she was disoriented.

"Yeah, it's me." he said gently.

His voice brought her out of her confusion. She looked at him with disbelief. Standing there alone. In what she assumed to be the middle of the night. With Incursio's armor on him. She started to realize what was going on. "I can't believe it... Please tell me that I'm not dreaming. Please."

Tatsumi directed two kicks at the wall. Breaking off the chains that held her up. He dismissed Incursio and caught Leone as she started to fall forward. Wrapping his brown coat around her naked form.

Leone looked up at him. A weak smile slowly forming on her pale face. Filled with disbelief and happiness. Revealing that she was missing several teeth. Tatsumi tore off a piece of the coat and gently wrapped it around her head. Covering up her damaged eye.

"Even though I can't believe it, I am still not suprised. Strangely enough" Leone said as her smile grew. "Somehow I knew."

Tatsumi returned her smile.

"I'm sorry that it took so long, Leone. I have finally come to save you."

* * *

Wave slowly rose up from the floor of the training room. He was bleeding heavily from the nose. He reached up and felt it with his hand to check if it was broken. When he could feel that it wasn't, he focused on Esdese. She was calmly walking towards him. Her weapon still in it's sheat.

It was rather late at night so the big training hall was pretty empty. Kurome was the only one in the room, besides the two of them. Standing on the sideline with a first-aid kit in her arms.

Things were going way faster than Wave had hoped. He had already taken some nasty hits. It seems like getting Esdese fired up over this training match had caused some unfortunate side effects. He decided to try and slow things down a bit.

"So, commander, when we leave tomorrow morning, what forces will you bring?"

"I will bring one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers with me. More than enough to make short work of the city in the span of a day." she said. Not slowing down her stride towards him.

"Will that really be enough?" Wave said. Trying to back away as discreetly as possible.

"It will be enough to burn the city. But not enough to kill all it's citizens." Esdese said. Increasing her pace a little bit without thinking about it. Her hunting instincts reacting to seeing Wave back away. "Makeias will bring another two hundred thousand from his forces. They will incircle the city while remaining hidden. Making sure that no one escapes us."

The distance between them were growing dangerously short now. Soon one of them was going to act.

"And you want me to command the ships?" Wave said tentatively.

Esdese answered by jumping forward, towards him. Wave tried to leap to the side in order to avoid her. However, when he moved away from her, she grabbed one of his legs and threw it up into the air. Making Wave do an involuntary frontflip. Landing on his back with an "Oooff".

When he opened his eyes, Esdese was looking down on him from above. Standing a bit above his head. "Your role will be to make sure that no ships leaves the city while we burn it to ashes." She said and placed her hands on her hips. "Now why don't you summon your teigu, Wave. It is unwise to keep taunting me like this."

"Of course, commander." Wave said and started to stand up. "But I have to wonder, commander, is it really necessary to sack the entire city?" Wave said. Asking the question that had weighed heavily on his mind the entire day.

"It is also unwise to question your superior's command without a good reason for it." Esdese said as her eyes followed him. "So let me ask you, Wave, do you have another way to secure an end of the renegade group?"

Wave looked down at his feet and wiped some of the blood from his face. "No, I don't. My apologies, great general."

Esdese looked at him for some seconds before she spoke. "Don't worry about it. Just think before you object next time. Your commander's choice might not always be to your liking but you are a subordinate. It is the nature of your role to not always get your will followed." Esdese said."Now call upon grand chariot." she finished in an ordering voice.

Wave grabbed his sword and immediately did as he was bid. Esdese watched him as his figure transformed in the smoke.

"You are strong, Wave." she said as the smoke scattered and revealed Wave in grand chariot's armor. "But you are far weaker than me. So you will have to live by my will and wishes. And this time they don't line up with you own."

Wave took a battle stance against Esdese as she continued to talk.

"If you have regrets, then you can think about all the trouble night raid has caused the empire and all your friends that they have killed."

"Will this really work, commander?" Wave asked.

"Of course it will." Esdese said with a smile. "Najenda will only allow herself one choice and that will be her end."

She drew her weapon. Holding down at her side. "I promise you, Wave, in a week, night raid will be no more."

Wave simply nodded at her in respons.

"Now come here, you cocky little boy. Let me show you how a real fight goes down." Esdese said and gestured for him to come at her.

Wave swallowed and launched himself in her direction.

* * *

Tatsumi moved back to the entry hall in Esdese's personal torture chambers. Carrying Leone in his arms. Even though the girl was able to talk and smile, she didn't have much strength in her body right now. She was barely able to walk. Much less move with any form of speed. So Tatsumi carried her.

She coughed heavily in his arms. It was clear that, unless she got Lionelle back, she was gonna need medical attention. Soon. Her body didn't have the energy to move around like this.

Tatsumi had no way to get her teigu back right now. He didn't even know where it was. He had realized pretty early on that it would be impossible for him to get both the teigu and free Leone. So he had focused on what was most important.

He had a plan of how to get Leone out. She would have to dress up in the dead guard's clothes and armor. Disguising her appearance. Then Tatsumi would have to secure her a way out of the torture chambers by acting as a scout and lookout with Incusio's invisibility. Killing those who couldn't be avoided.

As soon as they were out of the central part of the castlem, he would be able to leave Leone to some of his friends that would escort her out of the capital before the night was over. She would be hidden in a box of food. Hidden among many other boxes in a trade caravan that was moving out of the capital.

That had been the plan but now he was starting to worry if Leone could handle that in this state. But he had no choice but to move on. He would have to help Leone as much as he could along the way.

They finally got back to entrance hall were the two bodies still were lying by the door that led out to the rest of the torture chambers. He put Leone down on the chair that stood in front of the desk with Esdese's notes and books on it.

"Tatsumi?" she said weakly. Grabbing the desk with a hand to steady herself.

"Just wait second. We're gonna disguise you in imperial armor." Tatsumi said and walked over to the two bodies. He bent down to one of them and started to undo it's belt.

He drew the soldier's sword from it's scabbard and threw it to the side. The moment the sword hit the floor, Tatsumi realized something.

He never put the sword back into it's sheat after he used it. He looked up at the lock of the door that led out of Esdese's rooms. The lock was broken.

He didn't have time to react before the attack hit his chest in the side. The hit knocked the air out of his lungs but he didn't fall over. He stumbled backwards from the force of it. He summoned Incursion immediately, by instinct. Not noticing that he had now sealed a lot of water inside the armor with him.

The man he had presumed to be the dead guard rose up. His helmet covering his face.

Had Esdese placed some sort of special guards at the doors?, Tatsumi qustioned in his head. He dismissed the idea quickly. He had felt the bones break under his fist when he punched the guard in question. This was not the same person. This person had arrived here while he was searching for Leone. This was someone who had disguised himself as the dead guard. Probably some special agent of the empire, Tatsumi reasoned.

As the man stood up he swung out with an arm in the air, towards Tatsumi's location. From a container hanging from his belt, four blue and shifting projectiles came flying towards Tatsumi. A less trained eye would have mistaken them for blue snakes. But Tatsumi had seen this attack before. A long time ago. The fact that this person could use it confused him even more.

He quickly jumped to the side and avoided the attack. The projectiles hitting the wall behind him. Splashing down into water again.

That was all the confirmation Tatsumi needed to verify that his opponent was using the teigu he had suspected, Black Marlin. His opponent was wearing gloves so he couldn't see the ring but he was certain now. He didn't understand though, that teigu was supposed to be in the hands of the revolutionary army.

He summoned his spear into his right hand. He might need it now, his enemy seemed rather proficient with his weapon. The man in the guard's armor moved his hand up in Tatsumi's direction again. Gesturing with it in the air. In the matter of a second, all the water that Tatsumi had sealed inside his armor moved up along his body, up to his mouth and forced it's way in between his lips.

At the same time, the water from the projectiles behind Tatsumi started to move again. Launching against him once more in the form of several long, thin spears. Tatsumi dodged them by making a backflip over them. But he couldn't stop the water inside of the armor from traveling down into his throat.

He was amazed over his opponents capabilities to use this teigu. It might even surpass the abilities of the man who had slayed Bulat with it, he thought as he landed. Either way, he only had one strategy available now. He couldn't breath anymore. The water clogging up his throat. He had a very short time limit now. He needed to go on the offensive. He needed to win this before he passed out from the lack of oxygen.

He jumped forward towards his opponent. Bringin the spear forth as he got close. He swung it in a long arc against his opponent. The other man barely managed to avoid the attack by ducking down. Though he didn't manage to avoid Tatsumi's follow up kick. Tatsumi's leg hit him in the chest and sent him flying a couple of meters to the side.

When he came to a halt, Tatsumi was upon him again. Not willing to lose a single second and not allowing his opponent to use Black marlin's ranged attacks. He brought his spear down against the chest of his opponent but the man quickly rolled to the side and got up on his feet. The man was apparently very well trained, Tatsumi observed.

He backed a couple of steps away from Tatsumi. Indicating that he was trying to prolong this. Waiting for Tatsumi to run out of energy. And it was working. Moving around made Tatsumi's need for air increase and he was already feeling how weakness started to creep into his limbs.

He would need to finish this with the next attack.

He followed the other man as he backed away. When he saw that the man in guard armor moved to shot another water based attack at him, he threw his spear towards him. Forcing his opponent to move to the side in order to avoid it. Disrupting his attack until Tatsumi got close.

His opponent started to bring up his hands in defense but Tatsumi was a bit too quick. He put the last of his strength into a powerful punch into the opponent's chest.

Too late he realized that he had used his right hand by instinct. The same hand that had been crushed in the training halls when he was paralyzed ,some weeks ago. When the fist connected, Tatsumi realized that he had made a mistake.

The hit wasn't strong enough. It was a powerful strike but not powerful enough to secure his victory. He could feel that immediately. His hand had almost healed completely but it was still a bit weaker than his other one. That added to the fact that his energy was fading made his attack way too weak to knock out his opponent.

It still did some heavy damage though. He could feel two ribs break under his hand, and the other man was sent flying into the wall behind him. The impact with the wall knocked the other man's helmet off. Revealing the blond hair and blue eyes of Isamu. The imperial courier that had attempted to charm Esdese by trying to fool her that he had beaten Tatsumi.

Tatsumi had not heard anything about Isamu after Esdese had tortured his friends to death. He had assumed that he had left the capital.

Tatsumi started to slowly fall down. His energy spent. He looked at Isamu. He understood why Isamu would attack him but he didn't understand why he had a teigu. Nor why he had been down here. Shouldn't he be trying to avoid Esdese right now.

With a silent "Thump", Tatsumi fell to the floor. His conscious started to fade away. His abilty to focus disappearing.

Isamu straightened up with a pained expression. Holding an arm over his chest.

Leone rose and tried to walk towards them. "Tatsumi!" she called out weakly but then stumbled and fell over.

Isamu's eyes traveled to her. "My lady, don't force yourself. I have come here to help you escape."

Leone just looked at him with hostility.

"Just wait a moment." Isamu said and walked over to the body of the other guard. He rolled the corpse over and revealed two items that he had hidden under it. A sealed letter and a teigu in the form of a belt, Lionelle.

Leone's eye widened. Not sure what to think anymore. Isamu walked over to her with the two objects. He gave the teigu to Leone and then turned around to give her some privacy as she attached it. Since she had no clothes except for Tatsumi's coat.

Isamu looked over at Tatsumi as Incursio disappeared into thin air. The sword rolling down on the floor beside him.

He saw that the body of the young man was twitching. Tatsumi's conscious long gone. Isamu looked at him for some moments and then dissmissed Black marlin's control of the water in Tatsumi's throat. Making it slowly pour out of his mouth. He walked over to the sword that Tatsumi had thrown away. The sword that belonged with the guard attire that he was wearing.

"Drowning seems like a too cruel way to go." he said and picked the sword up. "Even for you, Tatsumi the traitor." He walked over with the sword to Tatsumi's limp body. He looked down at the unconscious boy for some moments and then raised his sword.

But as he was about to bring it down, a big, feral and clawed hand grabbed his arm from behind.

"Let go off the weapon or I will show you a cruel end." Leone growled from behind him.

Isamu let go off the sword. He looked at her over his shoulder as the sword fell down on the floor. Isamu could easily see that Leone was pushing herself. He could see that she was barely able to keep Lionelle summoned. Even so, the regenerative powers that the teigu showed when activated amazed Isamu. He could literally tell the diffrence from a few moments ago.

"My lady, I have been sent here by Najenda. Here." he reached over with the letter still in his left hand. "She told me to give you this. It will prove that what I say is true."

Leone let go of his arm but still looked at him with unfriendly eyes. She opened the sealed letter and quickly read through it. After she was done, she looked up at Isamu with disbelief. "Are you our new member?"

"I can completly control Black marlin, yet I have only had it in my possession for some weeks now." Isamu defended. "And not to sound rude, my lady, but night raid isn't really in a position to be picky about capable Teigu users."

Leone closed her hand around Najenda's letter. "Then why did you attack Tatsumi? He was clearly helping me."

"You are mistaken, Leone. He coming here is just a facade. It is a plan made up by Esdese to make you leak out information about night raid to him." Isamu lied.

Leone wasn't convinced. "How do you know this?"

"I am a courier. I deliver secret messages all the time. There are many diffrent methods of reading a letter without opening it."

Leone still looked doubtful.

"That is the only reason why I am here right now." Isamu said. "I timed my attempt to break you out with their plan. So that we can capitalise on the fact that they believe that any jailbreak right now is staged." Isamu had always been good at improvisation.

Leone didn't answer. She looked down at the unconscious Tatsumi.

"Think about it, Leone." Isamu urged on. "Why did you think that he first came down here now. After such a long time. Did he give you any reason for that?"

Leone sighed and closed her eyes. "So how do you intend for us to escape?"

Isamu smiled at her. "We will use the same plan that Tatsumi was given. We will disguise ourselves as guards." He said and pointed to the dead guard.

Leone looked at him for some moments and then nodded.

When Tatsumi conscious started to return, his head hurt like hell. Almost five minutes had passed. He looked up with dizzy eyes. Still too weak to move much.

Leone had almost completly changed her outfit to the guard's uniform.

"... and where do we go from there?" Leone asked Isamu.

"I have some friends that will help us move far away from the capital quickly, as soon as we reach them." Isamu answered as he put on his helmet. It's vizor covering up his face. "We will travel north at first. Then we will change course to the east. Towards the port city of Garu. There we will meet up with the rest of night raid. If everything goes as planned."

Tatsumi's thoughts hadn't caught up with the moment yet. _Garu? What was that? That isn't right. Leone is supposed to escape in a food caravan heading south_, he thought confused.

Isamu looked over and noticed that Tatsumi was starting to wake up. "What shall we do with Tatsumi?" he asked Leone. "He is waking up so we have to make a decision right now."

Tatsumi shifted his half-lidded eyes to Leone. He didn't understand what was going on. Leone looked at him for some moments. Her expression serious.

"I can do it, if you don't want to." Isamu offered.

"We're not killing him." Leone answered in a hard voice.

"Are you kidding me?" Isamu exclaimed.

Leone looked at the big blonde man. He had been very helpful and polite towards her but Lionelle's instincts didn't like him. "If you want to kill him, then you will have to go through me."

"Excuse me for being blunt here, my lady, but this is not the time for mercyful gestures." Isamu argued. "This man is jaeger. Even if he once was your comrade, before he betrayed you. Now he is one of the stronger warriors the empire has. If we leave him alive then all who oppose Esdese will suffer from it."

Leone looked at Isamu and then back at Tatsumi. Isamu did have a point. Leone was well aware that leaving Tatsumi alive now was not only stupid but also genuinely unfair. As an assassin, she had killed a lot of people. A lot of people that probably deserved way more leeway than Tatsumi did right now. She knew that leaving him alive would be blatant favouritism.

Yet she still didn't want to kill him. Lionelle's instincts were telling her things that she didn't fully understand. It told her to not trust Isamu and it told her that Tatsumi didn't want her to suffer.

She looked up at Isamu. "We will take his teigu."

"And leave him alive? Esdese will know about our escape within an hour." Isamu said with desperation.

"Then you better prove that you can run fast enough to be a part of night raid." Leone said with a grim smile. "Or you will have to fight me. The choice is yours."

Isamu looked at her for some moments. Even in her damaged state, Lionelle still made her look fierce. He had managed to get the suprise on Tatsumi and had thus managed to put him on the clock with his control over water. Just as he had planned. But he didn't think that he should try his luck against Leone right now.

Nor did he want to. He honestly wanted to join night raid. If the rest of the members looked anything like Leone, then he knew that he had made the right choice.

He nodded to her. He took some steps towards Tatsumi and then bent down to take up Incursio where it lay beside the other boy. When he reached down to take it up, Tatsumi finally realized what they were going to do.

Tatsumi reached out and grabbed it. He might still need it. "No." he said. His voice almost a whisper. "My brother gave this to me." he pleaded.

But he was weak and lacked any strength. Isamu simply kicked his arm away and grabbed the blade. Rising up and walking to the door that lead out of Esdese's rooms.

Leone stood there for some moments and then put on her helmet and moved after him. Isamu slowly opened the door and looked out. Then he moved out of the room.

Tatsumi tried to rise up on his arms a bit but they shook as he did. "Leone." he called out feebly and looked at her. Her appearance now completly disguised as a guard. She turned around to him. He couldn't see her face because of the visor of the helmet.

"I..". He didn't know what to say. What he wanted to say. He still couldn't focus very well but he had managed to understand what was going on. He wanted Incursio back. He wanted to know why she was running away with a imperial courier. But most of all, he wanted to know that they were friends. "I... I am sorry." he finally called out, meekly.

Leone looked at him for a long while. He wished that she would take off that helmet so that he could see her eyes. But then she turned around and walked out of the door. Silently closing it behind her.

"Leone!" Tatsumi called out a little louder. He tried to rise up but one of his arms gave out under him. Making him fall down on the floor again.

He remained there for some minutes. Gathering his thoughts and his feelings as his strength and mind returned to him. After a while he crawled up to one of the walls and put his back up against it. He rested there for a long while. Thinking about everything.

He had traded Leone's freedom for Incursio. That seemed like a good trade. He hoped it was. He hoped that she actually managed to get away now. Since he himself would have to be much more careful from now on.

He slowly came to realize that Isamu probably was a spy for the revolutionary army. That would explain why he had the teigu and also why Leone had followed him. It seemed that his plan had overlapped with Isamu's. He wondered if Isamu had always been an agent of the revolutionary army. That would explain his disdain towards Tatsumi and why he had tried to get close to Esdese.

He also couldn't help but think about why Leone had followed Isamu. Did she really despise him so much that she would rather put her life in the hands of a complete stranger? Or had they had contact before. There was too much that he didn't know to make any assumptions. But that didn't make it hurt any less.

He sat there and looked at the ceiling for a couple of hours before he rose up. Intending to give Leone all the time he dared without things starting to look too suspicious.

He picked up his brown coat from the floor where Leone had left it.

He looked at the broken lock on the door. Victory did rarely taste this bitter.

He started to walk out of the torture chambers. Heading towards Esdese's quarters. Not bothering with staying hidden. Just slowly walking through the corridors. He didn't understand why he felt so down. The mission had still been a success. Even if it had been a lot more costly than he had hoped. But Leone had managed to escape the torture chambers. Maybe even the capital. He should be happy but he wasn't. He just felt lonely.

It had hurt to see Leone run away from him. It had hurt to be left behind. Not that he had planned to follow her out of the capital. Nor had he expected any sympathy from his old friends at this point. But it still hurt. It had been a painful reminder that things could never go back to what they used to be. He could never go back to his old friends. His just desserts bitter to the end.

He was alone.

His only real companion was the ice demon. To Tatsumi, the fact that he enjoyed so many aspects of being her partner was more than enough to make him deserve this loneliness. But that didn't make it easier to bear.

After forty minutes, he arrived at the doors to Esdese's quarters. Her insignia carved into the top of the two big doors in beautiful black metal. It was probably a couple of hours past midnight by now, Tatsumi reasoned. He could feel that she was awake in there. Her presence was forceful and strong. She wanted him to know that she was there. He sighed and walked through the doors.

The rooms were dark. The only light there was came from the bedroom. Tatsumi walked over and moved into the room. Esdese was sitting at the rooms only desk with her side towards him. The lamp that stood on the desk was the only light source in the room. She was only wearing a sweater that reached down to the middle of her thighs and was currently writing something down on some papers. Her face a mask of cold irritation.

"Tatsumi." she said in a threatening voice as soon as he walked through the doorframe. Her eyes not leaving the paper as her pen moved across it. "What have I told you about what happens if you deny me what I desir-" she halted herself when she looked up at him. Her eyes widened slightly at his battered appearance. "Tatsumi?" she said and rose up.

He stumbled into the room. "I'm sorry, Esdese. I might need a little help." he said and started to fall over. Overplaying his damage. He needed some compassion right now. And as always when it was him, Esdese provided.

She crossed the room in a heartbeat. Crouching down in front of him before he hit the floor. Allowing him to fall into her open embrace. "What happened to you?" she asked with worry. Lifting him up and carrying him towards the bed.

"I heard you were down in the torture chambers so I came to meet you, a couple of hours ago. But when I got to the chambers, I was attacked by some people trying to get into where you keep the prisoners." he said as she gently laid him down on top of the bed.

"Are you badly wounded?" she asked and stroked the side of his face. "Were they strong enough to hurt you?"

"They have at least two teigu users among them. They took me by suprise and knocked me out. I came here as soon as I came to."

"Do you have any serious wounds?" Esdese asked again. Her voice a little more demanding this time.

"I don't think so. I'm still a bit dizzy though." he said.

"Good. That's good, Tatsumi." she said and smiled with relief.

"Esdese."

"Hmm?"

"They took Incursio." he said. Looking at her with genuine sadness. As he said it, he realized that he had just lost a part of himself.

The fact that they had taken a part of Tatsumi's strength from him, combined with his hurt expression, awoke Esdese's anger.

Even if she often fought and hurt others, it was still very rare for her to be more than irritated. Her cruelty and love for violence didn't stem from anger or hate. She simply enjoyed the acts in and of themselves. Not really caring about her victims enough to be angry with them. But now she felt anger rise inside her again.

"They will pay for this. Dearly." she said with cold fury. Her eyes defining maliciousness. "Did you hear where they were heading?"

"I think they intended to hide in a food caravan heading out of the capital. To the south." he said. "But I am not sure."

Esdese nodded. Then she bent down and kissed him lightly on the lips before standing up. She was about to start walking to the doors when Tatsumi grabbed her hand. She looked at him in suprise.

"Esdese.. please don't leave me behind." Tatsumi said. His voice begging.

She looked at him. Noticing the desperation in his voice but not understanding it. She was going to be back soon enough, so why was he worried. Her eyes widened slightly. Was he scared? Had they actually hurt Tatsumi enough to scare him? Her anger grew even stronger. Not realizing that Tatsumi's request was about much more than just this moment.

She bent down towards him again. "Don't worry, Tatsumi. You're safe here." she said and kissed him again. This time with more warmth and force. Pushing his head down lightly. "I will be back in a short while, I promise." she said and squeezed his hand in her own.

Then she rose up and walked towards the door with haste. "I will send someone over to examine you properly while I deal with this." She turned around in the doorway and looked at him. "I will be back very soon, so don't move an inch." She said before she left the room.

Tatsumi took a deep breath when she was gone. It would not be hard to comply with her orders. Almost drowning had taken it's toll on him.

He started to slowly fall asleep. Not even having the energy to wait for whatever medic Esdese intended to send to him. When sleep took him, he dreamt that he was walking alone in a snowy forest. With nothing but death to accompany him.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**So, this time I actually managed to get the chapter done to the promised date without having to rush things. Seems like 8-10 days is the way to go.**

**I have recieved a lot of kind words since the last chapter. Thanks a lot for that. It really keeps me going. **

**Though I have been thinking about for how long I can keep this going. Don't misunderstand me, I do intend to tell the entire story as I have it planned. And I intend to finsih it before the manga, since the writer of the manga has said that they are moving into the last arc of Akame ga kill. **

**But I don't know if I will be able to keep up these short intervalls between the chapters. We will see what happens. For now, you can expect the next chapter to be released in 8-10 days.**

**Thanks a lot for reading. While I do enjoy writing this, I wouldn't be doing it if no one was reading it. So thanks for all comments/reviews, follows/favorites and so on. It keeps this going.**

**Take care of each others until next time!**


	19. On the prowl

**I set the dealine to 8-10 days and suddenly the chapter takes 10 days to write. **

**I am starting to notice a pattern here.**

* * *

**On the prowl.**

The wind blew strongly against Tatsumi's face. He drew a deep breath of the fresh air and looked up at the blue and sunny sky. Another strong gust of wind blew against him as the giant, dragon-like creature under him lazily flapped it's giant wings again. Tatsumi was sitting in Esdese's lap, on the back of the giant beast. Flying high up in the air with her. A hundred meters below them, one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers marched over grassy fields. Currently passing between two enormous hills.

Tatsumi looked down at the huge force under them as Esdese steered the giant, flying beast. The creature circling the army back and forth. Tatsumi had seen forces of this size on the move before but it was always a tremendous sight to behold. The caravan of people stretched for some kilometers in width and the only reason why he could see the beginning and the end of it was because he was so high up in the air. It would be impossible to see the entirety of the force if you stood on the ground.

The sound from the huge gathering of warriors and soldiers beneath them was constant. A constant buzz of thousands of voices and noises. Every now and then you could hear the sound of a blowing horn. Signaling that some parts of the force should start moving or another should halt. And in the background, the constant beating of the war drums was heard. A slow and monotenous rythm. Enforced by thousands of feets walking in it's tempo. Turning it into a slow, thundering beat that could be heard for miles.

In the front of the huge force was the cavalry and other more prestiged combat units. And in the back was all the food carts and supply wagons. Drawn by mules. The force left nothing but a wasteland in it's steps. The grass turned into mud by thousands of boots and all bushes and wildlife trampled by the march. Leaving only a few desolate trees in the wake of the army.

Esdese also took deep breath of the air. "It is a lovely morning."she said. "A good day for a march.". She pulled lightly on the chain she was holding in her left hand. Making the giant beast alter it's course slightly. Her other arm was wrapped around Tatsumi. Pressing him close.

Tatsumi thought she was a bit silly. Back when he had just joined the jaegers, he had not been allowed to carry around Incursio. And one night when he was flying with Esdese, he had dozed off behind her. Resting against her back. It was nothing unusual but this one time he had actually slipped to the side and fallen off the beast before Esdese had realized that he had fallen asleep and wasn't just moving around behind her.

She had saved him from a death by gravity by diving after him off the dragon. Catching him before he hit the ground. But after that, she hadn't let him fly with her unless she was holding him. And so it had gone on until he had gotten Incursio back from the imperial court. But now it seemed like Esdese had reverted back to that standard. Holding an arm around his chest. Pushing it against her body.

He thought she exaggerated things. He was not gonna fall asleep in the middle of the day. He tried to shift around a bit but that only made her grip harden. He looked to the side. A couple of kilometres away to the side of the army, a long forest stretched out. Tatsumi studied it closely but he couldn't see what he was searching for.

Esdese noticed what he was looking at and brought her face down beside his. Also looking at the forest. "Can you see them?" she said into his ear.

"No." Tatsumi answered truthfully. "But I can almost feel them."

Esdese nodded. "Even I have a hard time seeing them from here. But you can smell them when the wind blows this way." she said as she put her cheek against the side of his head.

"Yeah, maybe if I had your nose I could do that as well."

Tatsumi had seen Esdese's legions on the march before. Even if it was an awe-inspiring sight, it was nothing new to him. What scared him was the other part of the forces that Esdese had brought. Makeias's part. She had said that the force that she had ordered Makeias to bring outnumbered the one she had brought from her own army by far. Yet Tatsumi had been unable to catch a glimpse of them this entire morning.

Esdese had given him hints every now and then. Pointing him in the direction of a swaying tree in a forest or a huge gathering of birds suddenly leaving the trees. But he had been unable to see the bulk of the small army that Makeias had brought. The fact that such a huge force could conceal it's precense to that extent both amazed and scared him.

The beast under them suddenly tore at the chain and roared. Causing Esdese to smile.

"Ohh, is the big boy feeling a bit unruly today?" she called out loudly and raised her head from Tatsumi's. "Does he need a little reminder?" she said and pulled at the chain. She reached down and put a hand down at the beast's back.

Immediately the giant creature whimpered and mellowed out. Recognizing the threat. "Yeah, I thought as much. Next time I will make you squeal." she called out loudly and roughly patted the creatures back. She tugged at the chains that acted as reins and made the beast change it's direction once again.

She liked this beast in particular. It was strong and did not allow itself to be tamed. Only staying submissive for a short while before starting to challenge her again. Giving her plenty of opportunities to crush it's confidence and break it's pride. Over and over again. She enjoyed it a lot. She would have to search for a long while for a steed like him after she inevitably destroyed him.

"You don't have carry me in your lap, you know. I won't fall asleep right now. You can let me sit on my own."

"Nope." Esdese said happily. Tightening her grip a bit further. "I had forgotten how nice this feels. I don't think I will allow you to sit so far away from me even after we have found Incursio."

"If we find it." Tatsumi said with a hint of sadness. He had never thought that a weapon could mean so much to him but during this morning he had felt the teigu's absence in everything he did. He had realized that he really had lost a part of himself last night.

"Don't worry, Tatsumi. I have high hopes that we will find your teigu soon enough. Maybe even during this mission." she said in an encouraging voice. If night raid had Incursio, then they would hopefully regain it when they eradicated the organization. Not that Tatsumi had any idea that that was the reason for this operation.

"You still haven't told me what this sudden troop movement is about." Tatsumi said.

"It's confidential. I hadn't planned to bring you along for this but I didn't like the feeling of leaving you alone without Incursio." Esdese said truthfully. The fact that she hadn't been able to catch the ones that attacked him made her a bit wary. And that Tatsumi had earlier been attacked by her own subordinates didn't help. She had decided to not leave him in the capital. Not when general Gallus was the man in control of the city.

"I promised you that I would never let anyone else hurt you. So I took you with me." she said. "You're way too precious to be left unguarded right now."

"Nevermind what I think about it." Tatsumi said with a grim smile.

"Of course not." Esdese said in the same happy tone. "You are mine. I can do whatever I want with you."

"I thought you cared about me." Tatsumi teased.

"There is not a single living being that I care about more than you." Esdese answered proudly. "Just because I push you around that doesn't mean that I don't love you."

"Even without the power of Incursio?" Tatsumi questioned while looking off into the horizon. A bit afraid of the answer.

Esdese looked at him for some moments. Studying him with a confused expression. He had been down all morning and she was not quite sure why. He had been acting like normal but Esdese could read his signs. She knew that he was upset about something. Esdese didn't understand that Incursio was more than just a tool to Tatsumi.

_Is this the reason? _, she thought. _Let's talk a bit, just in case._

"Tatsumi, when I fell in love with you, it was an instinctual reaction. I didn't think much about it. My heart chose you. It was not a decision on my part. But still, there must have been something that made me react to you like that. And I have been trying to analyze what it was." she explained and stroked him lightly with the hand that was holding his chest. Sounding like she was holding a lecture.

"When you stole my heart, I was surrounded with people more dedicated to me than you. I worked with generals that are still stronger than you are. Even when you have Incursio. And I had a lot of people that wished for my affection that the general public would consider much more beautiful than you." she said and waved a finger in the air.

"Yet it was you that I fell for. Why? Why did I settle for you? Why did I still want you, back when the former great general forbade you from ever wielding a teigu again or participating in battle? Why was I still attracted to you when you were paralysed and weak from the poison, some weeks ago? I spent most of last night staring at you while trying to find an answer to that."

"And?" Tatsumi carefully urged on. Afraid of what was to come. He needed her on his side in order to create a rift between her and the prime minister. But there was something else inside him that was afraid. Something else that needed her love. Something which existence he wanted to deny.

Esdese percieved the worry in his voice. She looked at him as a small tinge of irritation crept into her expression. "Don't look down on my loyalty, Tatsumi. I said that you would be my partner if you gave yourself to me and you did. You will be my mate until one of us dies. I take care of my own."

Tatsumi grinned at her with genuine relief and the irritation melted from Esdese's face. "So, did you find an answer?" he asked.

"I think I already knew it. I was just too caught up in other things to think about it." she said. "I noticed it the moment I first saw you. Others might not see it so easily but I can. I see it in the way you move. I see it in the way you train. And I see it in the way you push yourself."

"What?" Tatsumi asked. A bit more at ease now that she had already reassured him of his place at her side.

"Your potential." she said and smiled at him. Almost looking triumphant. "When I see Wave train, I can easily see how he can perfect his moves. When I see Makeias fight, I can see how he has optimized his potential. But when I look at you, I can't see it."

"See what?"

"Your limit." she said and looked at him with possessive infatuation. "As far as I can see, your potentail is beyond anyone I have ever met. That is why I had to have you. That is why my heart and instincts chose you."

"So you chose me for what I could be and not for what I was." Tatsumi said in a mocking tone.

"I didn't chose you, my heart did."

Tatsumi looked at her. It was such a strange feeling to sit in her lap and listen to her talking about her heart and her love as if she was a young and innocent maiden. Especially after he had spent the last evening running through rooms filled with the horrifying results of her lust and her neverending search for thrills.

"Don't misunderstand me, Tatsumi. You have my affection even in this state." she said and stroked her head against his. "But when everyone in the world is below your own level, you have to search for possibilities instead of results."

"Possibility for what? he asked. "Why is my potential so important to you?"

"Because you have the potential to become someone that can fully satisfy me." she said and moved her head away from his. Looking down at him. "In all regards."

"I think you flatter me a bit too much." Tatsumi said with a crooked smile.

"I know that I don't. We will find Incursio and even if we don't, it will just be a momentary setback. Under my watch you will rise above all other warriors that I know of. Just imagine it, Tatsumi." she said. A smile forming on her face that was not entirely friendly. Her aura suddenly turning intimidating. "Think about how fun that will be. Think about how much I will be able to play with you when you are at that level. Think about what a struggle you will be able to put up when I try to push you down."

Tatsumi had never felt this feeling from her. It was the compassion and warmth that she usually gave him but it was drenched in maliciousness this time. She had been threatening to him many times before. Either when she was irritated at him or when she was playing around with him but this was diffrent. This was her more brutal nature challenging him like it challenged her opponents. Inviting him to dance with her at his own risk. Wanting him to play with her on a dangerous level.

She was smiling at him fiercly. Her teeth bared and her nails digging into his side. He decided to try and calm her down. He moved up to kiss her but when he got close she moved her head down quickly and bit his lip. Drawing it back. Forcing him to move his head up with her as she pulled back. Watching with delight at how he winced slightly from the pain.

"Just the thought of it makes me excited." Esdese said through her bite. Her cheeks slightly red. "Then you will not only be my partner in love but in everything. You will be able to dominate all the warriors of the empire. Just the thought of subduing you when you're at that peak makes me restless. Then you will truly be my other half. And not just my cute and submissive mate."

"Sho your heart only cshhoose me sho that you could beat me up even more?" Tatsumi slurred. Currently lacking a lip.

Esdese let go of his lip. "Don't be silly. You know that there is more to it than that."

Tatsumi sucked on his hurting lip for some moments. "Yeah, I know."

"I will see to it that you will become everything that I want. I know that you have the potential to become as vicious and powerful as me. I will protect that possibility with everything I am." Esdese said and licked his reddening lip.

"I don't think that I can ever become as ruthless as you."

Esdese smiled at him."You said that I wouldn't be able to change you the first night we spent togethere. Yet look at us now. Who has bent to who, Tatsumi? Who is sitting in my lap? On my dragon? Participating in an imperial mission?" Esdese said. The dominating urge in her affection rearing it's head yet again.

Tatsumi looked up at the blue sky. The truth in her words worried him.

Esdese looked at him. A triumpant gleam in her eyes. "Deny it all you want, Tatsumi. But you have changed. I can see it. Just like I said that you would. Though I will admit that you still have some way to go before becoming what I intend for you to be.

"Yeah, losing Incursio sure didn't help with that." Tatsumi said bitterly.

Esdese pulled him closer. "Stop beating yourself up over that. We will find it. And even if we don't, we will find you something even better." she said. Trying to cheer him up. She was not used to cheering people up so she always felt a bit awkward when she wanted to make Tatsumi happy. But she would try. She felt that it was her duty as his mate. Her loyal side affecting her in this regard as well.

Tatsumi didn't answer. He simply raised his arm and put his hand over the one that was holding him. Intertwining their fingers. Esdese felt warmth rise inside her as Tatsumi squeezed her hand. The small gesture affecting her more than most attacks ever could manage. She looked down at him with a satisfied smile. Wanting to reward him for his behaviour in some way. But Tatsumi was gazing off into the distance.

It was rare for him to do these kind of things without some ulterior motive yet he had done so now. Not even thinking much about it. His body just searching for some form of love or comfort on it's own. Ever since he had lost Incursio, he had felt like he had a hole inside of him. A hole that had been filled with what Incursio meant to him. His last connection to his old friends and those happier days.

Now that thin bond had been severed inside of him. Leaving a gaping hole in it's wake. A hole that could very easily be filled by Esdese's neverending compassion for him. But he was afraid about the effects that would have on him. He was already aware that he had grown dangerously close to her during these months. His love for her had been growing stronger steadily. Turning from faking, to thankfulness, to gratitude, to genuine affection.

And it scared him. He knew that she was going to be his final obstacle. And the more attached he grew, the more he started to fear that he would not be able to make her fall. He knew that his hopes and dreams would never come to fruition for as long as she lived.

And he was still unsure of what he would do when that faithful day came.

But that was a problem for another day. He couldn't believe that he had gotten this far and he found it even more unlikely that he would be able to survive until the moment when Esdese was the only problem left for him.

He pushed himself against her and looked up at her with a cocky smile. "We will find Incursio or get something better, huh? I will hold you to that."

Esdese's eyes smiled at his challenging tone. Her more playful side reacting to his cockiness. "I will make you swallow that doubt. You will be telling me how right I was before this is over."

She returned his cocky smile. "By the way, Tatsumi. I want you to deliver a message for me."

"Okay."

"Go tell Makeias that his forces should move out ahead of ours. I want them to reach their destination and start with their mission before we reach the city." she said and steered her steed to fly down to a lower height.

"You don't feel like telling me what that means?" Tatsumi asked. He had been nagging her about this the whole morning. He had a bad feeling about this mission but no one was willing to tell him what the operation actually was.

Esdese pinched his chin until he winced and moved her face close to his. "No, Tatsumi. I don't." she said with an evil smirk. "Stop trying."

"And while I'm at it." she said and stayed close. Her pinching slowly growing harder. "Just looking at you all night was not that satisfying. When the march is done, I will meet with the other leaders to summarize the day. Then I will return to my tent. And you will be there then. Understood?"

Tatsumi shook his cheek out of her painful grip. "Yeah, yeah. Don't worry. I will spend the night with you."

She nodded at him.

"Have you spotted him?" Tatsumi asked and looked down at the fields. Esdese was steering them closer to the ground.

"Yeah. He is in the front base at the moment." Esdese said and pointed to a small cluster of tents in the front part of the long caravan. The force marching under them was so vast that small camps were raised in the front and then deconstructed again before the back of the caravan passed.

"I saw his personal guards walking into the camp twenty minutes ago. They are easy to recognize." she said and moved some of her hair away.

"Aye. That they are."

Esdese bent down and kissed him one last time as they approach the tents. She looked at him. Her gaze serious. "Don't leave me waiting."

Tatsumi nodded to her with a smile. She let go off him with her arm when they flew past the small camp and Tatsumi jumped off the beast. Flying down the last ten meters before landing between two tents. Making the nearby soldiers jump a bit into the air by suprise. His impact making the tents nearby sway from the wind of it.

He rose up and looked as Esdese's beast started to rise to higher altitudes again. Already a hundred meters ahead of him. The great genral herself mostly just visible because of her long white cloak that blew in the wind.

The soldiers around Tatsumi were either staring at him or at the flying beast as it roared in the distance. He brushed of the dust from his coat and started walking through the camp.

It was not hard to locate the general. The long and thin appearance of his personal guards was as easy to distinguish as always. Makeias seemed to currently be occupying the highest hill in the small camp. A circle of tents raised on top of it. Makeias personal guards walking around the hill. There was about twenty of them.

Two of them started walking towards him as he approached the hill. But before they reached him they stopped and turned around. Tom-Tom had appeared behind them. Standing at the top of the hill. Looking down at them. He waved a long and thin hand in the air and the two guards walked away from Tatsumi. He had no idea how the two guards had noticed that Tom-Tom was seeking contact with them. Since no words had been exchanged. He walked up to the bearded old giant. He was leaning on his long staff and had the teigu in the form of an owl sitting on his shoulder.

"Tom-Tom, was it?" He asked as he got close.

The old man nodded. "Tatsumi of the jaegers." he said. His voice deep and raspy.

"Thanks for the help with the guards there. I need to talk with general Makeias."

"Then follow me, little Tatsumi. Two of your friends are already with the general."

Tatsumi gave the big man a questioning look but Tom-Tom just turned around and started to walk futher into the camp. Tatsumi followed closely in his footsteps.

They found Makeias standing at the top of the little hill. Overlooking the front and the vanguard of the long caravan that was the forces that Esdese had brought. But to Tatsumi's suprise, Wave and Kurome was there as well. Kurome was standing a bit in the background and nodded to Tatsumi when he got close. Wave was standing beside Makeias. They seemed to be deep into some discussion.

"..no of course it won't help. Stability has never been her goal, admiral." Makeias said as he gazed over the thousands of people that were slowly passing. His hands folded in each other behind his back. "She doesn't care if this creates more enemies of the empire."

"But Esdese has always taken her duties seriously. Isn't it her duty to try and give the empire peace, now that she leads the military?" Wave asked, looking at the general. Tatsumi noticed that Wave seemed very stressed.

"Her duty is not to bring peace to the empire. Her duty is to defeat it's enemies. In some cases those two are the same thing but Esdese won't handle her position in that way. She won't care about the cost. In either case, the path to peace must be initiated on a political level." Makeias answered grimly.

The general looked over his shoulder at Tatsumi as he approached. Wave was about to say something more but Makeias stopped him with a gesture of his hand. "Let's discuss this later, Wave. Remember what I have told you."

"I hope I am not interrupting something important." Tatsumi said with a dark smile.

Wave turned around. Looking slightly suprised to see Tatsumi there. His expression lightened up a little bit. "No problem. How are you doing, Tatsumi? I was told that you got ambushed in the dungeons yesterday."

"Well... it took it's toll on me, that's for sure." he answered with honesty as he walked up to them. His hands in his pockets.

"Ahh yes I heard about that." Makeias said as a sly smile formed on his face."It seems like night raid got one of their teigus back. Or should I say, one of our teigus."

Tatsumi looked at him for some moment. He had not told anyone except Esdese that he had actually lost Incursio. Had she told everyone that he was weakened at the moment? He doubted it.

Wave clapped him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Tatsumi. If night raid has it, then we will probably find it during this mission."

Makeias eyes immediately shifted to Wave's. A hard look on his face.

"Ohh, and why is that?" Tatsumi asked.

Wave opened his mouth but then closed it again. Realizing that he might have said too much already. "Uhmmm..."

"Come on, tell me." Tatsumi encouraged with a forceful grin. "I would like to know why we are here in the first place."

Wave looked at Tatsumi for some moments. Wrangling with the situation before he decided to come clean. "Sorry, Tatsumi. I'am not allowed to tell you about it."

"Neither of us are." Makeias filled in. Looking off to the end of the army. Esdese's steed could be seen circulating over it. It's roar audible, even from that far away.

Tatsumi picked up on the clue. Except for the emperor, there was only one person who could impose silence on a general. Which meant that this operation most likely was the same thing that had bothered Wave the day before. Tatsumi's premonition grew darker.

"Anyway, general Makeias, I bring some orders from the great general."

"Speak." the general said without looking away from Esdese's dragon.

"Esdese wants you to move your forces ahead of the rest of us. She wants you to begin with your part of the operation before her force arrive."

Makeias nodded. "Yeah, I can see why. You can tell her when you meet her again that it will be done."

He then turned his gaze to Wave. "Go admiral, you have preparations to get done. Remember, being prepared is not about having a perfect plan. It's about having a plan ready for all possible scenarios."

Wave saluted the other general. Forgetting that they now had the same rank. "Thank you for your words, general. I will take them to heart."

"Let's speak again soon, Wave."

Wave nodded to the general and walked off. Kurome following him. Already acting as his bodyguard. Wave stopped after a little bit and waited for Tatsumi with a smile. Tatsumi started to walk after them but was halted by Makeias stern words.

"I haven't dismissed you, Tatsumi."

Tatsumi turned around to the general. "Is this is improtant? I have been looking forward to talking to my friends for a while now."

"It is."

Wave looked at him. "It's okay Tatsumi. We can eat our dinner together later. I will be in the front camps when we stop for the night."

Tatsumi sighed and nodded. "I will be looking for you."

Wave nodded back and then left with Kurome.

Tatsumi gave Makeias a tired look when they had left. "Did you want something else from me?"

"I do, Tatsumi. I think it is time that you make the first payment for my silence." Makeias said with a smile.

* * *

Akame looked around in the big room they were sitting in. It was a dining hall. Big and extravagant. With long drapes hanging from the walls down to the marble floor. The table she was sitting at was long and luxurious. Najenda was sitting beside her. Eating from the soup they had been served. Even the soup spoke of wealth. Filled with fish,crab,onions and saffron. All swimming in a cream stew. Served with a bread filled with nuts.

This was the priveledge of the elite of the empire. All the comfort the world could offer. Akame felt a bit hypocritical as she sat there eating from this food while claiming to fight just this kind of injustice.

On the other side of the table sat their host. The mayor of the city Garu. A man in his thirties. Relativly well trained with a shaved head and a red beard. The man had a brisk and harsh demeanor from his upbringing in the military but he was a just man. Night raid's highest contact in this city.

They were there to discuss the coming week. Since this sudden movement by the emopire might change some things. Akame didn't have much to add to the discussion. She had mainly follwed Najenda as a bodyguard but had been invited to sit at the table nonetheless.

"So you won't be leaving for a while then?" the mayor asked with his arms crossed over his chest. Already done with his meal.

"No." Najenda answered. "Our mission here is not quite done. Though we have made good progress."

The man looked bothered."And when will this force you speak of arrive?"

"If they keep up this tempo, they will be here by tomorrow afternoon." Akame said.

"Do we know how big the force is?"

"Not exactly." Najenda said and drank from the wine that was served. "We know that about one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers marches towards us in regular formation. But our scouts have reported that there are a lot more forces that are marching alongside this small army. But they don't have any formation and have stayed mostly hidden so we don't know how big this supplementary force is."

"Gods have mercy." the mayor sighed. "Do we at least know who it is that leads these forces?"

Najenda smiled a dark smile at the man. "Have you ever considered that too many answers is the same thing as no answers at all."

"Is that a fancy way of saying that you don't know." the mayor said and raised an eyebrow at her.

"Yeah." Najenda admitted. "Our spies in the capital says that Esdese is still in the city, yet one of her steeds has been spotted flying around, over this army. While other sources tells us that the pillager no longer is in the capital. And at the same time they say that general Gallus hasn't been seen since yesterday." she shrugged in annoyance. "So yeah, we don't know."

The bearded man shook his head. "I don't like this at all. If they are bringing such a force here then they have probably heard that you are here. They are coming here to search through my city. If they find out that my administration has sheltered you, then they will kill everyone that works for me."

"Don't worry about that, mayor." Najenda said in a reassuring tone. "They have tried these kind of things before. We know how to hide from them."

Akame looked down at her soup. Both she and Najenda knew that there was probably more to this. The kind of force that the empire was sending was far too big for a simple search and quarantine mission. There was something more to this but they were unsure of what. But Najenda had made it clear that they couldn't leave yet. The eventual loyalty of their ally under the sea was far too valuable to give up on now. Even if it was a risk to stay in the city.

"Have you heard anything about your ally in the capital?" the man asked. Looking at Najenda.

"Yeah." Najenda said with a smile. "Good news actually. The mission was a success and they are currently traveling towards us. They even managed to steal another teigu. Incursio."

Akame wondered what had happened back in the capital as she ate a piece of her bread. The message they had recieved had been very brief. They knew that Leone carried Incursio with her but not how she had gotten it or if she had met Tatsumi.

"That is good to hear. So we can assume that Tatsumi the traitor had been brought down?" the mayor asked.

"It is too early to assume anything. We will have to wait and see."

"I understand. I still don't understand why you haven't made him into a more prioritized target. Considering how he betrayed you."

Akame spoke up without thinking about it. "I don't think Tatsumi is our enemy!"

The mayor gave her a suprised look. "What do you base that conclusion on? Everything seems to point at the opposite."

Akame hesitated. Realizig that she should have kept her mouth shut. "I don't know. I just don't believe that he would kill us."

"Believe?" the bearded man said. "Young lady, the battlefield is not the place for uncertainties and guesses."

"I know that." Akame defended. "I know. But still." She put a hand on her chest. "A small part of me still believes in him."

"So you will follow your doubt when battle is joined? That kind of behavior will get you killed." the mayor said.

"I didn't say that I would hesitate. If Tatsumi tries to stop us, I will kill him." Akame said with a expression that was both sad and angry. "But I will not consider him as an enemy until then."

"Even though trusting him has already cost you a member. What was her name? Mine?"

Akame was about to say something but Najenda raised a hand in her direction and gave the mayor a hard look. Making the room fall quiet. Ending their discussion right there. Revealing who the real boss in the room was.

Akame looked down at her food again and the mayor looked to the side. After some silent seconds he spoke again.

"When will Leone and your new member arrive?"

"Hard to tell." Najenda answered as she put down her spoon. "It has become more risky to move, now that there is such a big force occupying the main path between this city and the capital. So they have to move a bit more carefully than usual. But I think they will be here soon enough."

The mayor rubbed his hand on his forehead. "So we will just feign ignorance when the army arrives then?"

Najenda nodded. A serious look on her face. "I know that this is hard for you. You are not only risking your own life but the life of your subordinates as well by helping us. We will not forget it."

The man looked out through one of the large windows. His look sober. "I became mayor because I believed that the the empire was a good and fair nation. When I finally reached this position, I had already learnt how wrong I was. But like many before me, I still believe that the empire is capable of more than this. Once the current imperial court is removed." He turned his eyes to Najenda. "Please don't let that hope falter."

Najenda smiled and rose up. Akame rising up with her. "Never. Not as long as peolpe like us draw breath."

The mayor rose up himself. He reached out with a hand to her. "Godspeed."

Najenda shook it with her human arm and nodded. "Good luck."

Najenda turned around and started to walk out of the room. Akame was about to turn around and follow when the mayor reached out with an arm to her as well. She shook it with a bit of suprise. "Good luck." she said and looked at the man.

"Good luck, Akame. I wish you all the best. And you do have a point. Sometimes it is the whisper that carries the important message. Not the scream."

* * *

"Ah, here he is." Makeias said as Tom-Tom lead a young boy into the tent that he and Tatsumi was standing in. "This is Jack, Tatsumi."

Tatsumi looked at the little boy that the the giant man had brought. He was very young. He couldn't be more than ten years old. He was pale and very frail. He wore civilian clothes that were clearly too big for him. His head was wrapped in bandage that stopped just above his eyes. The boys white hair sticking out from the bandage here and there. His eyes were as pale as his skin. He looked kind of vacant. Like he wasn't fully there.

"Has he damaged his head?" Tatsumi asked.

"Well in a sense, yes." Makeias said. "But that is not what I want your help with."

"What then?"

"Well, you see Tatsumi, I don't have a full idea of your influence. Not by any means. But I know that you are in a rather special position. And there are certain things that you can do because of that which I can't."

Tatsumi looked at the general with annoyance. "I am sure that you will get to your request sooner or later"

Makeias smiled at Tatsumi. "Okay, let's get down to it. I know why Esdese tortured her own attendants to death. I know what it was that she asked them as she slowly killed them. And I know what the last one she tortured screamed out as your lover cruelly played with her."

Tatsumi's eyes narrowed slightly but that only made Makeias own smile grow.

"I know that she was one of yours and not one of Esdese's. Did you plant her there or did you just steal her loyalty from Esdese?"

"She was already one of Esdese's chambermaids when I met her." Tatsumi said bitterly.

"And now her body feeds the crows. Come to think of it, the birds must love your lover. She always keeps them fed." Makeias mused and tapped his chin with his fingers.

Tatsumi gave Makeias an angry look.

"She is your partner Tatsumi, not mine." Makeias said slowly and met his gaze.

"So you will hold me responsible for what she does?" Tatsumi said angrily. "Do you honestly think that I can decide over what Esdese does?"

"Ohh, but I think you can, Tatsumi." Makeias said calmly, with a look in his eyes that Tatsumi didn't like at all. "I actually think you can and are. In some subtle and very indirect way."

Tatsumi started to believe that he should have dealt with this general a long time ago. It was dangerous how close he was to the truth. Tatsumi needed to either figure out his goals or elimante him. Soon. And Makeias had already made it very clear that he was gonna keep his ambitions hidden from him.

"You don't seem to understand the ice queen very well, general." Tatsumi said. Trying to sound as indiffrent as he could.

The look on Makeias face told Tatsumi that the general knew that he was right but Makeias backed off from it nonetheless. "Maybe." he said and shrugged. "You know, considering your position, I had hoped that you would have been able to at least hinder Esdese's more violent nature a bit. But you only seem to have increased it's influence."

"And how do you suppose that I would hinder her from doing what she wanted?"

"Well, when I first heard about your position I had hoped that you would at least put a baby in her belly." Makeias said and scratched the back of his head. "Then she would at least be out of action for a month or two." _And that would be all that I would need_, he thought.

That actually made Tatsumi laugh. "If you think I am in control when it comes to that, then you are sorely mistaken general." he said as he settled down. "Besides, I don't think Esdese is interested in anything that would hinder her from doing what she likes."

"That is kind of strange." Makeias said and tapped his chin again. "I have been told that the first thing she did to your former partner was to castrate her. So I had assumed that Esdese disliked her fertility in some way. And I thought that indicated that she wanted to own all your offspring. But maybe she just thought that it was your old partners sexuality that made her able to charm you."

Bringing up Mine was always a safe way to bring down Tatsumi's mood and this time was no exception.

"Though I heard that when Esdese actually was done with the night raid member it was impossible to see if the person had been a man or woman before Esdese got her hands on her. They are still talking about it down in the torture chambers sometimes. I have been told that it has become something of legend among the torturers. Allegedly. Did you know that Esdese actually let some of the other prisoners use your old girlfriend as-"

"Enough." Tatsumi's voice was so cold and hard that he actually managed to stop the general midsentence.

Makeias was strong. Tatsumi knew this. He could feel it from his presence and see it in the way he handled himself. Maybe not as strong as Esdese was or Budo had been, but he was not far behind them. Tatsumi knew that he would probably not be able to beat the pillager even with Incursio. But he was still very close to punching the other man in the face at that moment.

Makeias noticed how upset Tatsumi was and realized that he had gone too far. He didn't want Tatsumi to be his enemy. Not yet. He stood still and looked at the boy for a while and then turned over to him and bowed lightly.

"I'm sorry Tatsumi. That was unworthy of me. I don't want there to be any hostility between us. I thought you had left this behind you."

"I told you before, general. Some wounds don't heal." Tatsumi said coldly. He had felt the remorse in Makeias's voice and it had calmed him down but he kept his hard expression.

Makeias straightened up with a smile. "A tiger dosen't change his stripes, right?"

"We are what we are." Tatsumi said. "Some things will always remain."

"We are what we are." Makeias echoed. "Yet i believe that even someone like you, who's best abilities are fighting and hurting, can still find ways to bring joy into the world."

Tatsumi looked at the general for a while. "The only thing that attracted Esdese attention to me in the first place was my ability to hurt others. I admit that. But even if I am nothing more than murdering assassin, I still want to think that you are right, general."

Makeias smile grew wider. "I am right, Tatsumi. Even someone as low as me can make this world to a better place."

Tatsumi smiled bitterly. "If I am only a murder than what does that make you, general?"

Makeias smiled widened but lost all joy and happiness. "Decay incarnate."

There was something about the way Makeias said it that made Tatsumi deeply uncomfortable. Something about the honesty in the other man's eyes made shivers run down Tatsumi's spine at those words. His right hand started to hurt slightly but Tatsumi managed to suppress any reaction from showing. After a moment, the pain was gone.

Makeias shook his head."Let's cut to the chase."

"Please do." Tatsumi agreed.

Makeias walked over to the little boy that Tom-Tom was still holding hands with. "I want you to place this boy in some minor position close to the military leadership. Make him into an attendant to some of the leaders or something. Or make him into a butler to the great general. Something like that."

Tatsumi gave the general a sceptical look. "General I hope you don't think that this child will be able to spy on the leaders of the military just because I put him somewhere near them. The security is a bit too tight for that."

"I am well aware of the security of the military, Tatsumi. You don't have to bother yourself with the purpose of this act. Just hide him somewhere near the military leaders. And if you successfully plant him there somewhere, no one will ever need to know who it was that burned the archives."

"But why can't you do this yourself?" Tatsumi sighed. "Fine." he continued with an exhausted tone. "I will see what I can do. When do you need this done?"

"As soon as possible. Send him back with the supply lines before the sun has settled." Makeias said in a serious manner.

Tatsumi nodded. "Will he be needing any help after that?" Tatsumi said and looked at the boy. He did seem awfully young.

"Don't worry about him, Tatsumi. He can handle himself just fine." Makeias said and looked at Jack.

"Anything else that you wanted from me?" Tatsumi said in a slightly annoyed tone.

"No. Just do this for me and your secrets will be safe."

Tatsumi walked up to the boy. "Well then, Jack. Come with me."

The little boy's eyes focused on Tatsumi. He nodded. Tatsumi turned around and started walking out of the tent. The little boy started to follow him but didn't get too far. Tom-Tom did not let go of his hand. Jack stopped and looked up at the old giant. His expression empty. Everyone in the tent looked at Tom-Tom but he still held on to the child's hand. Unable to let go.

"Tom-Tom." Makeias said lowly. His voice a warning.

The big man took a very shaky breath. This was not easy for him. He looked at Jack's eyes. They looked so horribly vacant to him. He supressed his emotions to the best of his ability and slowly lightened his hold of Jack's hand. Letting go of the boy, both physically and metaphorically.

"Go with Tatsumi, Jack." Makeias ordered.

Jack immediately withdrew his hand from Tom-Tom's and turned around. Tom-Tom inhaled sharply and took a step back. Stricken with grief. The reality of the situation coming down on him as he was shown that the little boy he had come to regard as his own child didn't exist anymore.

Jack walked out of the tent with Tatsumi and didn't look back. Leaving Makeias and Tom-Tom alone. Makeias looked at his old friend and second-in-command.

Tom-Tom stared at nothing for a long moment before he spoke. His voice thick and shaky. "I failed them. They believed that I would help them. They trusted me. And I betrayed them."

Makeias noticed how the big man's shoulders were shaking. There were tears in his sad, blue eyes. He reached up and put a hand on Tom-Tom's back.

"I just want to go back home." the big man said in a shaky voice.

"Soon, my friend. Soon." Makeias tried to comfort him.

Noctuaz stirred on Tom-Tom's shoulder. The owl shook it's body a little bit and then spoke in it's squeeky voice.

"The spectacle of our collapse is growing thin."

"Indeed." Makeias agreed.

"When the fire rises, loyalties will change." the teigu went on.

Makeias and Tom-Tom looked at each other. None of them certain of what the teigu meant. But both suspecting the same thing.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**I have no idea why but this chapter took ages to write. I still got it out in time but damn. I had to put a lot of effort into this one. Compared to some of the other chapters. This happens now and then and I am not sure why. Sometimes things are just harder to write.**

**Anyway, a very dialogue heavy chapter this time. Sometimes I worry that I bore you with these kind of chapters but they are necessary from time to time. Especially now, since we are building up to something rather big.**

**But then again, I might be insulting you with that worry. I mean, most of you have been along for more the 360 A4 pages of Bent but not Broken. You can probably weather a chapter of mostly dialogue.**

**As always, thanks a lot for reading. You following and commenting on this story is literally what keeps it going. I pay close attention to it all. The next one should hopefully come a bit sooner. 8-10 days, per standard.**

**Take care of each other until then.**


	20. Cornered

**This one turned out way longer than I expected it would.**

* * *

**Cornered.**

Tatsumi breathed quickly. Sweating slightly. He stood on all four on the bed. Hunched down lowly against the mattress. Looking like a cat that was being backed into a corner. His shirt was unbuttoned and he was still wearing his socks. But those were the only clothes left on him. He had red and fresh claw marks on his chest and red marks on his butt.

Esdese stood in front of him. Standing on top of the bed with her hands on her hips. Looking both satisfied and foreboding at the same time. She was still wearing her own military shirt even if it was also unbuttoned. She also had her military cap on her but was otherwise naked as well.

They were alone in the big tent. The bed was suprisingly large for being something that was transported with the army. Otherwise, the tent contained a table, some chairs, a big drawer, some chests and a weapon rack. It was dimly lit by several floor chandeliers. But most of those were burning rather weakly now.

Esdese had arrived just fifteen minutes earlier. Immediately pouncing on Tatsumi when she entered. Having been looking forward to taking him for most of the day.

But he had not been caught unaware. He had heard how the guards outside of the tent had saluted her as she approached. Even if she herself hadn't made a sound. He had pretended to be unaware when she came flying at him until the last moment and had then ducked to the side. Grabbing on of her arms that was meant to grab him as it flew by. Putting himself in the position of a throwing motion. Managing to get into that position only because of how relaxed and confident Esdese was.

But that was all he had managed to do. When he had started to pull at her arm, he couldn't get her to move in the slightest. He had looked up at her and she had smiled condescendingly at his attempts as he tried to pull at her again. They had stood like that for some seconds. Then Tatsumi had started to shrink away. And the moment he did, Esdese jumped on him again.

That time she caught him in her arms. Biting down at his shoulder with a vicious smile as she tackled him into the bed. After that there had been no use to struggle. Since she had him in her grasp. She had torn of his clothes as she pushed him down. Tearing through the clothing that was too bothersome to open up. After that she had hastily taken off her own clothes.

Their first round had been a hasty business. Esdese's lust urgently searching for a release. Her insatiable hunger peaking. All her playful and lustful attention focusing on him. It had ended almost as quickly as it begun. Tatsumi's endurance completly overwhelmed by her unending yearning for him.

But the more pent-up she was, the more violent the dicharges usually were. And with the exception of the tackling and tearing of his clothes, it had been a tender affair. So as soon as Tatsumi started to settle down, he had noticed how she had started to claw at his chest. Slowly and softly at first. But quickly growing more painful.

Usually, Esdese had patience with Tatsumi in these scenarios. When he spent himself before she was satisfied enough. She usually just waited until he had regained his strength and then resumed. But this was not one of those times. So when Tatsumi reached his peak and ran out of energi before she had gotten her satisfaction, she had started to search for gratification through other means. Slowly starting to hurt him.

Tatsumi had quickly realized that it was only gonna get worse. So he had waited until her grip had gotten softer as one of her hands reached down and violently grabbed his butt, then he had untangled himself with lightning speed. Jumping backwards, away from her. And that was where they were now.

Tatsumi crawled a little bit further back. His heel touching the end of the bedframe. Esdese eyes smiled at how completly alert he was. His own eyes following every little move she made. She bent forward and grinned. Holding a hand on the brim of her cap and reaching out to Tatsumi with the other.

"Come here." she said. Calling upon him as if he were a dog. Sounding sweet but her expression threatening. "Come to mama."

Tatsumi knew that he could not escape her in the long run. That was not the plan. He just wanted to divert her attention and give her more playful side an outlet that did not involve hurting him. At least not too much.

When he didn't come to her after some seconds, Esdese straightened up. Her smile growing as she closed the hand that had reached out to him. "Disobedience will be punished."

She put her hands on her hips and took a slow step towards him. When the foot touched the mattress again, Tatsumi jumped to the side. But before he could get off the bed, one of Esdese's legs stomped down in front of him. Obstructing his path. Tatsumi immediately changed his direction to the opposite side of the bed. But once again, Esdese's leg came down in front of him. Just as he was about to leap off.

This time he opted for the air instead. He jumped up from the bed as soon as he had come to a halt. But before he could get anywhere, Esdese grabbed his arm. Tatsumi's body was jerked back by his own arm as his momentum was stopped by his now stationary limb. Esdese's grip unyielding.

She slowly sat down her knees as Tatsumi pulled and tugged at the arm in her grasp. Trying to get free. Esdese was suddenly in no hurry at all. Now that she knew that she had him she enjoyed seeing him struggle to get away. His futile attempts and flustered expression looked so cute to her.

"I wonder, Tatsumi, what did you intend to do if you managed to escape me?" she asked when she was sitting down. Calmly watching how he grunted and pulled at her arm. "Did you intend to run out naked into the camp?"

Tatsumi put both his feet down into the mattress, clenched his teeth and started to pull with everything he got.

Esdese watched him with an amused expression for a little while. "You can stop that now, Tatsumi. Your fate is already sealed."

"Ohh yeah?" Tatsumi said and pulled again.

"It's just you and me now. No one will come to your rescue. No one will take you away from me."

"Ohh yeah?" Tatsumi repeated. As quickly as he could, he changed his direction. He threw himself against Esdese. Jumping right into her. Grabbing hold around her stomach as his shoulder hit her right under her breasts. Tackling her.

The fact that she had been pulling backwards at him along with the force of Tatsumi's body actually made her lose her balance. Esdese giggled as she fell backwards down on the bed. Her free hand grabbing Tatsumi as they started to wrestle.

They often wrestled like this. It was another one of the many games that Esdese liked to play with him. The rules unspoken but understood. Tatsumi struggled with everything he had in order to make this a little bit more interesting. But he never hit or kicked her. Neither did she strike at him. They just wrestled. Esdese sometimes biting or clawing at Tatsumi but rarely anything worse than that.

But just like most of their little games, the outcome was almost always the same.

"There we go." Esdese said as she rolled around a final time. Landing on top of him. Locking Tatsumi's legs under her own. Pushing his arms down with her hands. "Pinned." she announced triumphantly.

Tatsumi panted and looked at her. He was a little bit sweaty from the ordeal. Unlike Esdese who seemed practically unfazed. He tried to push up a bit but then settled down.

"Fine. You win. Again." he admitted and looked up at her.

"Well then." she said and adjusted her hat that had been pushed a little bit to the side. "As the winner, I have a prize to claim." she said.

When Esdese moved her hand down from her cap, Tatsumi pushed his hands down into the matress and started to lift himself up. Starting to do a bridge-like movement. Lifting Esdese up slightly.

"Hah!" she shouted excitedly as he lifted her up a bit. She took hold of his shoulders and jumped up with her lower body. For a moment it looked like she was on her way to do handstand from his shoulders. But before she had gotten too far up, she brought her lower body down on top of him with force. Landing on top of his chest. Straddling him.

The hit of her body and weight made Tatsumi fall down on the bed again. A exhausted grunt escaping his lips.

Esdese straightened up on top of him. Sitting on his chest. "I really like how you're still so tenacious. But I think you would be better off if you accepted the futility of your resistance sometimes."

"I have never been good at giving up." Tatsumi said and looked at her. Looking as defiant as he could when her thighs were on his shoulders.

She reached down and stroked the side of his face. "That is just a testament of your strength. But I am stronger than you." her hand suddenly rose up and grabbed his hair in a hard hold.

She licked her lips. "Disobedicence will be punished." she said again as her other hand started to move down towards him.

Tatsumi realized that the pain was coming. He did one last attempt to divert her attention away.

He looked up at her and then bent his head to the side. He started to lick one of her inner thighs which were lying on his shoulder. He moved his tongue in long, strong and slow strokes.

The hand that was moving down towards him stopped. After hovering over his head for some moments, her hand moved over and layed down on her other thigh.

Tatsumi momentarily halted his movements when she did. His tongue still on the smooth skin of her thigh. The hand that was holding his hair tightened it's grip. "It is in your interest to not stop now, Tatsumi." Esdese said from above him. Her smile full of teeth.

Tatsumi continued as she advised. Licking and kissing her white skin.

Esdese took a heavy breath. "This isn't bad." she said and scooted a bit closer to his face. Her knees already way past his head.

Tatsumi continued with enthusiasm. Driven partly by the fear of the pain. Esdese was actually well aware that he was trying to distract her. She could see the fear hiding in his eyes. She knew that he was trying to please her to avoid a harsher form of playing. And she enjoyed it. With every lick he stated his submission to her.

But she wanted more.

"That won't suffice, my sweet little Tatsumi." she said and smiled down at him in a dangerous. way. Scooting herself even further towards him.

Tatsumi didn't know why but he suddenly felt a little bit playful and rebellious. Thinking that he was in the clear, regarding the pain at least. So he just kept licking her thigh enthusiastically. Even though he could almost feel the heat from her sex on his chin.

Esdese looked down at him with annoyance. "Get to it." she ordered.

"I am, aren't I?" he said and continued to stroke her with his tongue. Looking up at her.

That made Esdese understand that he was trying to tease her. She had half a mind to draw some of his cute little squeals out of him for that. But this position just felt too right for her to leave it at the moment. Instead her hand tightened around his hair again and she shoved his face in between her legs. Slowly grinding her most sensitive area against his mouth and nose. Slowly rocking her hips.

After a little while she stopped on top of his lips. Her hand closed so hard around his hair that he drew a sharp breath. Esdese feeling the air blow against her. She bent a little bit forward so that she could look down at him. Her cheeks were slightly red and her smile was hungry. Yet her voice was hard and authoritative when she spoke.

"Get to it." she ordered once again. Pressing herself down against his lips.

After a second or two, Tatsumi complied. His tongue came out and he started to service her in the way she wanted. Licking her along the length of her womanhood. Sometimes digging a bit deeper into it with his tongue. While his lips sucked on her.

"There you go." Esdese said with a blissful sigh. Straigthening up a bit as her hands grip on his hair loosened a bit. Her other hand still resting on her thigh. A somewhat satisfied smile formed on her face as she slowly started to grind against his mouth and lips. While he continued his licking and sucking. "That's it. Taste it properly, Tatsumi. Let it saturate you."

After a little while her grinding had become much harder against his face and both her hands were grabbing his hair in a hardening grip. "Don't you dare stop now."she warned as her breathing got faster and more rough. Biting down on her lip. Tatsumi continued as he was bid. Driving her excitment into absolution.

Soon enough she reached her peak. She pressed down on him so hard that he had a hard time getting any air. Her thighs clenched around his head as she reached her first orgasm for the night. She bent forward as her toes curled up. Her hands pulling so hard at his hair the he thought that she would tear off his neck.

"Yeeesss" she slowly moaned in a strong and throaty voice. Her body quivering.

After some moments she moved back with a complacent smile. Sitting down on his collarbones. Her hands letting go of his head, placing them behind her on his stomach as she leaned a bit backwards. "That was good." she said. "That was really good."

"I will take that as a compliment." Tatsumi said with a smile. His face a bit sticky.

Esdese giggled slightly and moved her hips back and layed down on top of him. A satisfied expression forming on her face as she studied his messy face. "Your face looks a little bit... dirty." she said. Gloating at him with a smile.

"And whose faul is that?"

"Don't pretend that you didn't like that." she said. Calmly looking him in the eyes.

Tatsumi gave her a mocking grin in response.

"Ohh, don't think that I can't notice it, Tatsumi." Esdese purred. She moved her face a bit closer to him. "You deny so many parts of your own nature, Tatsumi, but I can feel them."

Tatsumi looked away. Slighty uncomfortable about where this was going. The act only egging Esdese on.

"You try to deny it but I can feel how your body wants me. And not only in a sexual way, Tatsumi. I can sense how it wants to be near me. How it is drawn to my presence. You don't like to talk about your love for me, yet I can feel how you find peace in my arms." she said. Sounding triumphant. "You try to avoid it but to me it is obvious. You know that you belong with me. You enjoy being my partner."

Tatsumi slowly turned his eyes towards hers again. She had hit the nail on the head in a way that worried him deeply. She had seen through the hesitation his conscience gave him about his position. She had noticed that he had started to enjoy parts of it.

And it made him deeply afraid. Afraid that she really would managed to change him, as she had promised. That she would make him so jaded to suffering that he would stop caring. That she would actually manage to turn him into that which he was fighting. That which she to a large degree embodied.

"Am I wrong?" Esdese asked rhetorically. Almost sounding boastful.

"No." Tatsumi sighed. "At least not completly."

Her smile got a little bit warmer and she bent down to kiss him. Wanting to reward him. Yet once again, Tatsumi's rebellious side got the better of him. He didn't know why. Maybe he needed to resist her for some moments. Maybe he just needed to do something small and stupid to divert his attention away from the matter at hand.

As soon as her lips got close, he reached up and bit down on her lower one. Not enough to damage her but enough for it to hurt. Esdese's eyes widened at his move. Genuinely suprised by the sudden pain. Tatsumi was regretting it the moment he did it. He didn't even think about the the idea before he put it into action. In hindsight, it seemed pretty idiotic. Since he had tried to avoid pain for a while.

Esdese growled at him and pushed his head down with her forehead. Staring him into the eyes. As soon as he let go of her lip, a dangerously thrilled smile formed on her face. She had started to get into a gentler mood but that small and sharp pain had kick-started her more aggressive side again.

"So you want to play a bit rough, ehh?" she said without moving her head away. Her arms quickly moving down his body.

"Not really." Tatsumi said with a hesitant smile.

Esdese rose up and moved down a bit. She didn't care anymore about what methods she would have to use to get him ready for her again. She wanted to claim her rights. Now. But when she moved down she saw that he was already erect. To her delight.

She took hold of his legs and bent them up until Tatsumi's knees were hitting his chest. His feet in the air. Then she placed her legs at the sides of him and sat down on top of him. Putting him inside of her once again, with the help of a hand.

Tatsumi couldn't help but whimper a bit and Esdese grunted slightly in satisfaction. Her arms left his legs. Her own legs and hips now pressing them down towards the sides of his chest. Her hands grabbed hold of the sides of his mid-section. When they touched his skin they were as cold as ice.

"Let's take our time tonight, Tatsumi." she said as he gasped at the cold sensation. "I will be slow and firm with you. I hope that you will give me some gratifying screams along the road." She was alrady starting to slowly grind against him.

"The guards outside will hear us." Tatsumi complained.

"Why would I care? They can probably guess why they aren't allowed to enter at night either way." she said as her nails dug into his flesh.

Tatsumi clenched his teeth. "What if I care?"

"Then keep your mouth shut."

"That is a bit hard tiiiiiiIIH" Tatsumi couldn't help himself as the end of his sentence turned into a shrill whimper as Esdese spread some of the coldness over his bare chest.

"I will not allow you to get any release until I am satisfied enough." she said as she squeezed him inside of her. Her eyes gleaming with sadistic joy. "That usually gets some wonderful reactions from you."

"You're evil." Tatsumi said through clenched teeth.

"And you're mine." Esdese said as she started to play with him. Making Tatsumi unable to respond as he fought to keep his voice down.

Before the sun had started to rise, most of the guards had realized what was going on inside of the tent. Both by Esdese's and Tatsumi's sounds and noises. And before the night was over, Esdese had made Tatsumi pledged his love and life to her many times over. As so many nights before.

* * *

The sun hadn't risen yet but the sky was starting to lighten up as the boats finally approached the port of Garu. The sky was slowly turning from black to blue, revealing some small clouds strewn over it as the morning approached.

Kurome looked at the city. It was big but not anywhere near as big as the capital. From where she was standing she could see where the port that covered the city's side to the water began and ended. Small lights could be seen in the houses and facilities along the port. The faint sound of activities could be heard from it. The sound traveling far over the water.

The city itself was encircled by a big wall that ended on both sides of the port. The wall itself towering tall over the biggest houses. Smoke could be seen from a few of the chimneys in the city. It's people slowly waking up and beginning the day. Kurome could smell some of the smoke as the wind blew against her.

She was standing in the front part of the small fleet's flagship. Placing herself a meter behind Wave, who was standing with his hands on the railing of the ship. Also looking at the city. The fleet he was now commanding was moving in to stop all the boat traffic in the city. Beginning it's soon to be quarantine.

Kurome looked to the side. On the hills to the left of the city, the encampment of the forces that Esdese commanded could be seen. It stretched over several hills, almost taking up as much space at the city itself. A lot more lights could be seen from the encampment than from the city. Pillars of smoke rising from it's many campfires. The city was mostly surrounded by forests but these hills had been leveled by the army.

She, Wave and a couple of officers had seperated from the army in the middle of the night. Moving to the coast to be picked up by boat that then transported them to the huge ship that acted as the flagship of this small fleet.

Kurome looked at Wave's back. He now had a long cloak over his shoulder. Reaching down to his ankles. A copy of the coats that acted as the generals insignia. The only exception being that it was black and red. Signifying that Wave was from the navy and not the army. She thought it suited him. It made him look a bit more authoritative. When he walked around with that and his sword over it's back, he actually looked like an admiral to her.

Not that he was looking very authoritative right now. His shoulders were slumped and he was leaning forward on the railing. He looked tired but Kurome knew that it was not because of the time. He had been down ever since Esdese gave him his first mission as an admiral.

Kurome could guess why but didn't quite relate to it.

She had always found it a bit strange how weak-willed Wave could be in some respects when he was so strong in others. He had overcome great challanges and difficult situations through will and guts. Yet this task semed to be difficult for him. Even if he literally had to do nothing but stand and watch as his subordinates followed his orders.

"This is going to be brutal." Wave said silently as he watched the city.

Kurome took a step closer to him. They were the only ones standing in the front of the ship at the moment. So Wave noticed that he had her attention.

"When the citizens realize that all the roads out have been blocked, then they will flee to the port." he continued. "They will grab any excuse for a boat that they can get their hands on when things start to go really nasty. Everything from a fishing boat to a set of planks. And then we are supposed to sink and kill them all. As they try to escape the fire and slaughter. With our well developed equipment and organized military fleet."

His voice was silent and grim. "Kurome."

She took another step towards him. "Yes ,admiral?"

Wave sighed shakily. Still looking at the city. When he spoke again his voice was much more unsteady. "I don't think I can do this."

A hint of fear crept into Kurome. She had heard the same sentiments from a person she had held very dear a long time ago. A person she was now trying to kill.

"We have handled public punishments before." she said calmly.

"Yeah when we knew they were somehow connected to criminal activities. And even then were talking about twenty people at most." Wave said. A bit of his repressed desperation showing through. "Here we are talking about ten thousands of people that will be fleeing through the water. Do you even understand those numbers, Kurome?" Wave said and turned around towards her. His expression filled with anger born from panick.

"That is so many people that if I ordered all the ships we have brought with us to save as many as they could from the water, all our ships would be dragged down and sink." he almost shouted. He gestured fiercly with a hand to the port behind him. "That port will be so filled with bodies that the coastline will be pushed tens of meters back into the sea because of the corpses."

Kurome was getting scared. This was really starting to remind her of an earlier moment in her life. A really painful one. "Calm down, Wave. It's just-"

"There is no possible rationalization for this!" Wave interrupted her. "Two hundred thousand people are about to die because a few criminals are hiding in their city." He was basically shouting right now. "Makeias was right! Budo might have been breaking the law but he would never have tolerated this kind of operation. I should take these ships and-"

This time it was Wave who was interrupted. Kurome moved close to him in a heartbeat and hugged him tightly. Pressing her forehead into his chest. "Stop it, Wave." she pleaded. Sounding terrified. She didn't want to lose him as well.

Wave stopped himself at those words. Many times had he wished that she would hug him tightly like this but now it only filled him with sadness over the situation. "I'm sorry." He said silently.

He raised his arms and answered to her embrace. They stood like that for some seconds before he spoke again. "I can't do this, Kurome."

"You must." she answered. "You will be charged with treason otherwise."

"I know that, Kurome."

"The great general will not protect you if you defy her. You will be executed."

Wave looked up at the sky, as he held her. Some of the stars could still be seen in the brightening sky. "There are some things that are worse than death."

Kurome's nails digged into his back. "I know. Don't make me face them again."

That hit Wave hard. It hit him deep. He had been trying to get this girls affection for so long. And now he was told that he had it. Just as he was about to walk down the one road that he didn't want her to follow him on. The one that was probably gonna lead to his end.

"I'm sorry." he said again. "But I can't do this, Kurome."

"Why not? You don't have to do anything. You can just stand up here." she asked. Desperation now sneaking it's way into her voice as well.

"I'm sorry." he repeated. "I can't shut these things out like you can. I can't be as cold as you can."

"I can be cold for you." she argued. The fear apparent in her voice. "I can overwatch this on your behalf. I can act as your representative while you stay below deck."

Wave smiled and held her close. He had always thought that she was dense in regards to perceiving other peoples feelings. Afraid that she had felt nothing special towards him at all. Now he wondered if he had been the dense one.

"This rresponsibility was given to me, Kurome. Allowing this to happen will still be unacceptable. Even if I close my eyes and look away." he said. His voice silent and sad.

"No." Kurome said and buried her face into his chest. Not arguing his point but reacting to the situation in and off itself. Panick starting to spread through her. "Please don't do it."

Wave could hear the sadness in her voice. It sounded timid and scared. It hurt him so much. "I have to."

"No you don't." she argued.

"I do, Kurome."

And just like that, Kurome began to cry. The movement was small and silent but Wave could feel her sobbing. He clenched his teeth to stop himself from doing the same thing. The misery of the situation staring them both in the face.

"Please no." she sobbed silently into his chest. He couldn't get himself to answer. He felt his defenses breaking down.

"Please stay with me." Kurome said. "Don't leave me. Not you as well."

"But Kurome.."

"Stay with me." she interrupted sobbing. "Can't you at least try."

Wave looked down at her. She felt his gaze and raised her tear ridden face up to face his. "Please. Can't you just try."

Wave sighed. His breath shaky. He closed his eyes. "Fine."

Kurome inhaled sharply at those words.

"I don't promise anything." he quickly said. "I still don't think I can do this. But I will try. For you."

Kurome pressed her face into his chest once more. Her expression strained as even more tears kept coming. "Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for not leaving me behind." she sobbed. She had been sure that history was going to repeat itself. She was sure that she was going to lose the one person closest to her again. But now there was hope.

_Maybe he will be diffrent_, she allowed herself to think as she cried into his chest.

They stood there and hugged for a long time. Steadying each other as the sun rose up behind them.

* * *

When Tatsumi woke up, Esdese was already getting dressed over at the drawer in the tent. He rose up to sitting position and stretched his arms over his head. Esdese noticed that he was awake and walked over to the bed as she fastened one of the long glove-like arms on her uniform.

There were a lot of noise coming from outside of the tent. The army already getting ready to move. Tatsumi noticed how sun was already streaming in through the holes in the tent. He looked at Esdese. "Have I overslept?"

"This army only moves when I tell it to move." Esdese said and put one of her boots against the bed. Tying it's laces on her thigh. "So I decide if you have overslept or not."

Tatsumi moved his legs out of the bed beside her. "You didn't really answer my question."

She smiled at him. "It was a fun night. I think you deserved some sleep."

"Thanks for that." he said and yawned.

"But go and get dressed now." Esdese said. "We should get moving, now that you are awake."

He rose from the bed and walked over to the drawer. He opened it and started to shuffle through it, searching for some clothes of his choosing. Esdese walked up to him from behind as he did.

She reached out and trailed her fingers over the red marks on his shoulders and lower neck.

"Your own handiwork." Tatsumi said as he took up a shirt.

"It suits you." Esdese said with content smile.

"I am happy that people won't see them when I put my clothes on."

"My markings belong on you, Tatsumi. They are the proof that I have claimed you as my own." she said and closely studied her own claw and bite marks.

"I swear to the gods, Esdese. Sometimes you can seem so insecure." Tatsumi said with a smile.

"There is nothing wrong with being proud of what you have conquered." Esdese said. She trailed her fingers down his spine. Her touch so light that it made a shiver run up Tatsumi's back. Then she turned around and walked over to the weapon rack.

"So what will we be doing here in the city?" Tatsumi asked as he pulled a shirt over his head.

Esdese turned around and looked at him while she fastened her sword to her belt. She thought about the situation for some moments. "I have changed my mind, Tatsumi. You will not come with me into the city."

"Why not?"

"Because I am pretty sure that you won't enjoy it."

Tatsumi fastened the belt on his own pants and turned around to her. His expression serious. "Why have you come to this city, Esdese?"

Esdese guessed that he was gonna find out sooner or later. But he didn't need to know exactly why she was there. "I have come to extract a punishment upon the populace of this city for helping the revolutionary army.

"What kind of punishment?"

"Steel and fire." Esdese said and walked over to the table in the tent. Picking up the white cloak that marked her as great general, which was lying on it.

"Care to be more specific."

Esdese just looked at him as she fastened her cloak. Considering the situation.

Tatsumi himself had started to realize what was going on. She hadn't brought more than three hundred thousand men just for a public execution. "Esdese... you have come here to sack this city, haven't you?"

She nodded to him. Looking relatively serious. "You will remain outside of the city. You are prone to doing stupid things in these kind of scenarios."

The mood had tensed in the tent and they could both feel it. Esdese looking at Tatsumi as she straightened out her cloak. Her gaze challenging him to voice his opinion. He spoke up either way.

"Why did you first tell me of this now? I would find out sooner or later."

"I simply didn't want you to be complaining during the whole journey here."

"Well then you will have to hear it now instead." Tatsumi said with irritation.

"Tatsumi..." Esdese sighed as she walked over to the bed were her military cap was lying.

"I can promise you that not everyone in the city has been helping the rebellion, Esdese. How can this not seem like overkill to you?"

"It's about statuating an example, Tatsumi. Once again. We do not tolerate disloyalty in the empire." she answered as she picked up her cap. Not willing to tell Tatsumi about the real reason for this extermination; night raid's demise.

"I think you have made that clear to the world already." Tatsumi argued.

"This is the first major operation that I have commanded as great general. It is necessary to show the world that my actions won't be weaker than Budo's were." she said. For once their positions were reversed. Now she tried to hide something from Tatsumi.

"Esdese, there is not a single human within the empire that dosen't know about your strength. It is so well known that people use the prefix "the empire's strongest" before your name. Your powers are so vast that some people can't even comprehend what you are capable of. This is completly unecessary."

"It is not." Esdese said and put her cap on.

"Why is it not?" Tatsumi demanded. "What does destroying the entire city accomplish that can not be done by just executing half of it's citizens instead, or a third of them? Aside from just giving you a chance to indulge in your more horrible interests."

Esdese looked at him for a second and then started to walk over to him. Staring him in the eyes. Her gaze hard and authorative. Normally Tatsumi would have backed away but this was too important. He stood his ground as she walked up to him. She stopped when she was less then decimeter from him.

She reached up and grabbed his chin between her thumb and index finger and lifted his head up so that he was looking at her. "I have duties Tatsumi. The destruction of Garu is not about me satisfying my desires."

"But you will still enjoy this." Tatsumi said bitterly.

"Are you implying that I can't seperate my desires and my duties?" she asked coldly. Her expression hard.

Tatsumi met her gaze for a long while before he finally shut his eyes. "Promise me that this is not just about you enjoying yourself." he said and looked at her again. His expression not so much stern as it was sad.

Esdese smiled at his subtle submission. And she had found a way to get him to submit without him finding out that night raid was in the city. "I promise you, Tatsumi. This serves a bigger purpose."

Tatsumi sighed. "I really hate the empire."

"I know, Tatsumi." Esdese said. Her hand letting go of his chin. Moving up to caress the side of it. "I know."

Thirty minutes later, Esdese's giant steed landed violently in Makeias's camp. The camp was stationed on top of a small hill that overlooked the city in front of them. From up there you could see over the high walls and all the way to the other side of the city. You could see that about fifteen military ships lay at anchor around the city's port. You could also see how Esdese's forces had started to slowly march into the city.

The camp was crowded and busy with people running around in it. But the entire camp froze when the big creature landed. All eyes looking at Esdese.

Makeias and Tom-Tom walked up to the beast. Their robes flying in the wind. Makeias had his two spears hanging over each other on his back. The long and thin black staffs tunrning into blades after two thirds of their lenghts. Esdese jumped of her steed with Tatsumi pressed close to her body. Only letting him go when she they had landed on the ground. Still keeping a hand on his shoulder.

"Aren't you supposed to be meeting with the mayor of Garu right now?" Makeias asked as he walked up to Esdese.

"Yeah but I have a small task to give you before that."" Esdese said and stroked Tatsumi's neck.

"I thought we went through everything at the meeting yesterday?" Makeias aksed. Sounding more curious than anything.

"Well, I had a change of heart." she said. The hand on Tatsumi's neck went down to his back and pushed him forward a couple of steps. "Pillager, I am leaving Tatsumi in your care for the rest of the operation."

"Ohhh?" Makeias said and looked at Tatsumi with an empty expression.

"He is not to enter the city, pillager. So he will stay with you. Since you are supposed to remain outside of Garu." she ordered.

"I didn't know that babysitting was a part of my job." Makeias said with a smile.

"Your job is whatever I say that it is." Esdese stated and looked at Makeias. "Do you have any objections to this task?"

"Not really, no." Makeias said and scratched his chin. "Anything else?"

"Tatsumi has already been told all he need to know about this mission. Don't let him enter the city, no matter what."

Makeias nodded. Tatsumi understood the insinuation in that sentence. There was still something about this mission that they were hiding from him.

"He can often act a bit reckless in these kind of situations, so keep an eye on him. He can be quite resourceful when he wants to be." Esdese continued. Holding a hand on her weapon in a relaxed pose.

"I am well aware." Makeias said with a smile.

Esdese eyes narrowed slightly at him. She didn't like how he implied that he knew more about Tatsumi than she did. "General Makeias, you are probably the most capable subordinate I have. But make no mistake here, Tatsumi is now your responsibility. If you let him escape you or put him in danger, then I will kill you."

Makeias's eyes slowly rose up to meet her hard gaze. He knew that she wasn't lying. "Fully understood."

She nodded to him. She then turned around to Tatsumi. "And you."

She reached out with an arm and grabbed his shirt. Pulling him close. "Try to use that adorable little head of yours before you do anything today, okay?"

"I will do my best." Tatsumi said and gave her a crooked smile.

Esdese' expression was hard and reprimanding. Tatsumi was the only one of her subordinates who often dared to still stand against her when faced with her harder gaze. At times, Esdese wished that he wasn't so special to her. Not that she could do anything about that.

"I am serious, Tatsumi. You don't want to disobey me today."

"Then I won't." he said and kissed her. And just like that, all her irritation with him melted. All the small things that annoyed her disappeared. She slowly raised her arms up and embraced him tenderly. After some seconds they moved their lips away from each others. Esdese looked down at him and sighed happily. She then let go of him and jumped back up on her steed.

"Good hunting, pillager." she said and looked down at Makeias.

"You too, great general." Makeias returned.

Esdese gave Tatsumi a last long look before she snapped with the chains. Making the giant creature take off into the air.

Makeias walked up to Tatsumi as they both watched how Esdese's flew towards the city.

"Her affection for you is so strong that it is almost scary. It borders on obsession." Makeias said as he walked up on Tatsumi's side.

"Are you really that suprised, general." Tatsumi said without looking at the man beside him. "Evey aspect of her is strong to the point of insanity. Why would her love be any diffrent?"

"I guess you do have a point." Makeias said and scratched the back of his head. "And I guess you know the basics of why we are here."

"Yeah. The basics." Tatsumi answered.

"What about Jack?" Makeias asked a little bit lower.

"Your little agent is on his way back to the capital already." Tatsumi answered absentmindedly.

"Good."

They remained silent for a while after that. Both of them looking down at the forces that were slowly moving into the city. After half a minute, Tatsumi spoke again. "And I guess she has placed you out here to make sure that no one escapes?"

"Something like that." Makeias answered.

Tatsumi sighed. "You were correct earlier, general. Peace will never be achieved for as long as Esdese is allowed to reign free."

Makeias looked at Tatsumi for a while. His expression a mix between mocking and pitying. He could symphatize with the younger man. Makeias had also been in love once. A long time ago. After some moments he tried to comfort him.

"It is bigger than just that, Tatsumi."

Tatsumi looked at the general who kept his eyes on the city as he went on."Esdese might be one of the strongest and nastiest around, but she is far from the only one of her kind in this world. And as long as one of those people can get the power to destroy entire cities just by happenstance, peace will never come."

Tatsumi studied Makeias's expression as he continued.

"As long as madmen, or in this case, madwomen can get this level of power just because the were genetically compatible with ancient weapons, stability will never be reached."

Makeias smile was gone. Looking deadly serious for once. "If we are to gain a strong and steady peace, all forty eight teigus must first be destroyed."

Tatsumi waited for the general to continue but Makeias stayed silent as he watched the forces moving beneath them. Thinking of his plans.

* * *

"Great general Esdese. It is an honor to meet you." the mayor of Garu said and bowed deeply as Esdese walked into the room. The mayor had a big dog sitting down beside him but other than that, there were just the two of them in the room.

The room was somewhat empty. It lacked any furniture and the only thing that was hanging on the walls were the drapes around the windows. When Esdese had arrived to the mayor's building, she had been greeted by a big welcoming party but not by the mayor himself. He had been waiting for her a couple of floors up.

"Mayor." Esdese greeted. "Why didn't you meet me downstairs?"

"I apologize, great general." the man said. "I had a lot of things to get done."

Esdese nodded at him. His demeanor told her that he had been trained by the military. But she didn't mind his harsh tone. At least he was brisk. "Have you brought me the information?"

"Yes, great general." the man said and gave her a piece of paper. It contained all the information about the city's planned boat traffic for the coming days.

"I have been told that you have come here to inaugurate the new admiral." the mayor said. "Is he downstairs? I want to give him my congratulations."

"The admiral is already on a boat, outside of the city." Esdese said as she opened the folded paper.

The mayor looked at her for some moments. His expression uncertain. "Ohh. I though that he would be celebrated in the city."

"No. I will give him a proper celebration back in the capital when this operation is done." Esdese said and started to read through the letter.

"Then why are you here, great general?"

"Because night raid is in this city." Esdese said plainly. Her eyes moving across the paper.

The mayor didn't have to fake his distress over the situation. "Are you sure, great general? My own city watch hasn't seen or heard anything that would indicate that they are hiding here."

"I am sure." Esdese said. Not really interested in giving the man a longer explanation.

"How do you intend to deal with them?"

"You don't have to bother yourself with that." Esdese said. Sounding slightly uninterested.

"Why is that?"

Esdese reached out and gently put her hand against his big chest. Her eyes still reading from the paper. "A mayor serves no purpose without a city."

She then shoved him back. Almost nonchalantly. But the force of her push lifted the man up in the air and sent him flying backwards through one of the windows. The man screamed as he fell down several stories towards the ground. Esdese kept reading as the scream adruptly ended as he was crushed against the stone street outside of the building.

The mayor's big dog ran against Esdese. It jumped up to attack her but some moments before it could reach her, a chunk of ice flew into it's side. Crushing it's ribs and making it fall over. Gliding away some meters on the marble floor. Esdese's eyes hadn't moved away from the paper during the entire time.

One of her soldiers walked into the room after some moments. Saluting her as he entered. "Everything is prepared, great general."

"Good." Esdese said and looked up from the paper."Go tell them that I will be there in a minute."

"Yes, great general." the man said and saluted her. He turned around and walked away. Esdese was about to follow him when the whimpering of the dog caught her attention. It was limping away, backwards into a corner. It's scared eyes not leaving Esdese. She looked at it for some seconds and then walked over to it. It started to growl at her when she got close but before it could lash out, her boot came down on it's throat and pressed it to the floor.

"You knew that I was stronger than you." Esdese said and looked down at the dog as she slowly increased the pressure of her boot. The dog's growling turning to whimpering.

"I had no buisness with you, yet you tried to attack me anyway." she said as the whimpering turned into wheezing and hissing.

She smiled and shook her head as she pressed down further. The wheezing turning into gurgling as the dog's throat caved in. "Loyalty is such a strange thing." she said and looked out through the broken window. Pushing her foot down the last bit. Snapping the creature's neck like a twig. Ending all the sounds that came from the dog.

She dropped the paper down on the broken form and walked out of the room without giving the dead dog a single glance.

* * *

Akame was standing in the back of the huge crowd that had gathered. Dressed in her usual disguise. Wrapped in clothes from head to toe. Only revealing her eyes. The sun had started to settle on the city of Garu. Slowly creeping down into the sea in the horizon. The crowd that had gathred was rather large. Almost eight thousand people, Akame would wager.

This was the main plaza of Garu, where the city held it's gatherings and public announcements. A stage had been raised in front of the crowd. As usual on these gatherings. Behind the stage the sea spread out into the horizon. Reflecting the sunlight of the dusk. Normally the sea in the background of the stage would have a couple of trading ships visible but now the entire outline of the view was occupied by imperial frigates. Encircling the bay area.

The crowd that had gathered was restless. The imperial army had marched into the city just this morning and now imperial troops could be seen on every street. The entire city now filled with them. The trust for the imperial military was not too bad in Garu but most of the city's citizens had come to find this very unnerving. Since no reason for the troop deployment had been given. It had been announced that what was going on was going to be declared on this meeting.

The people were jeering and shouting. Akame looked around. It would not be hard for this the evolve into a riot. But Akame was not sure if that was the best course the situation could take right now. The city was swarming with troops and unlike most of the Garu's inhabitants, Akame and her colleagues knew that an even larger host surrounded the city, outside of the walls. Hidden in the forests.

Akame had some of her trainees behind her. Some younglings that the revolutionary army had sent them. Hoping that they could train them to a level where they would be teigu candidates. Akame had been sent to the gathering with them to see what reason the imperial army would give for the quarantine the city had been put under. No one had been allowed to enter or leave the city since the army arrived. Something that most of the city's merchants and traders had objected to rather strongly.

The noise of the crowd was starting to grow rather loud when someone finally started to climb up on the stage from behind it. Suddenly the sound from the people gathered lowered drastically in volume. A cold and ruthless presence started to press down on the large assembly as Esdese walked up on the stage. Smiling calmly with her hands on her hips. Her hair and big cloak flowing in the air behind her. Her gaze wandered over the now almost silent crowd as she walked towards the middle of the stage.

"Damn it." Akame whispered to herself and lowered her head a little bit without thinking about it. They had not been certain that Esdese herself was in the city. They had suspected it but had hoped that they were wrong. But now they knew. And the fact that Esdese was there carried a dangerous meaning. Something big was about to go down.

Akame sent a gaze to one of her trainees who nodded and then started to move away. Heading towards the hideout to warn the others about the situation.

Up on the platform, Esdese was enjoying the situation. She now stood in the middle of the stage. In front of the entire crowd. Her hands on her hips. Her posture confident as her eyes traveled over her audience. She enjoyed the gazes the crowd was giving her. Half were hostile and the other half scared. It reminded her of hunting. It reminded her of that last gratifying part of the hunt. Which she had enjoyed so many times before. When the hunted was finally backed into a corner. The prey showing scared hostility in desperation. Still clinging to some small hope of surviving while still realizing how bad the situation was.

The feeling she got from the crowd in front of her reminded her of the feeling those preys emitted. Her instincts as a hunter reacted strongly to the situation. Urging her to go in for the kill.

She gestured with her arm in the air before her. "Citizens of Garu. I am great general Esdese. Leader of the imperial military." she shouted out loudly. Her tone official and authoritative. The crowd growing silent as most of them understood who she were.

"I have brought an army of almost four hundred thousand soldiers with me. Most of them are right now encircling this city. The imperial fleet has also cut of all possibilities to get out through the port. All the mayor gates and roads out of Garu are now blocked by my forces. The reason for this is simple."

She waved out over the large crowd with her arm. "Some of you are harbouring the criminal organization known as night raid."

The crowd grew almost completly silent at those words. Esdese's expression grew slightly more entertained at the reaction. She could almost taste their fear. "As most of you must know," she continued on. "aiding the revolutionary army is punished with death. And now we know that some of you have been doing just that."

She took a step forward, towards the crowd. Amused by their complete silence. "The former great general was met with this situation before but he didn't have the will necessary to meet it. But fear not, I am not my predecessor. I will end night raid right here. In this city."

People in the crowd had started to whisper to each other now. Akame listened very carefully as Esdese went on. Not liking where this was going at all.

"You see, my predecessor made the mistake of bringing the knife to these infected areas. Trying to act with precison to cut out the disease that this rebellious movement is. But precision takes time and work. And by giving this disease time, he allowed it to spread and escape him. Infecting new areas and cities. I will not do that mistake."

Esdese smile widened as she continued. "The chance to stop this infection with the knife is long gone. I am bringing the torch."

Akame's eyes widened as she understood what was gonna happen. She immediately turned around to the two trainees that were standing behind her. "Go!Go!" she whispered frantically as she shoved them away. "Tell the others." When the two younglings had disappeared into the crowd, Akame returned her eyes to Esdese.

_How did we not consider that this was an possibility?_, she thought. _Did we forget that this woman is completly insane._

"People of Garu." Esdese called out. Noticing how people in the back were starting to leave in a hurry. "If any of you will give us information or members of this criminal organization, then you shall be spared. Otherwise you will get a chance to show just how much you can withstand and just how far you can go tonight. I sincerely hope that you won't disappoint me. Though I doubt that any of you will be alive when the sun rises again."

At those words, the entire crowd descended into chaos. Everyone screaming and struggling to get away from Esdese and the military around the stage. Esdese's smile widened even further. Her predatory instincts were loving this sight. _Some of them should at least be strong enough to provide some entertainment_, she thought. The thrill of the hunt already starting to fill her.

"As great general and leader of all imperial military power."she called out loudly. Her voice audible even over all the shouts and screams.

"I hereby sentence this city."

She raised her arms up on her sides.

"Along with all it's citizens."

All Esdese's teeth were bared in a grin and her eyes were narrowed and sharp.

"To death!"

* * *

**Author's note:**

**Wow, that was a big one. But I wanted to finish it right on this spot and there was some things that needed to happen before that. It literally grew in the telling.**

**We now stand at the edge of the biggest event in this story so far, as most of you have probably gathered. I have been looking forward to writing the coming chapters for quite some time now. A lot of things are about to go down. **

**It will also be a challenge to write for me since there are a lot of things that need to happen and a lot of diffrent viewpoints that need to see diffrent things. So I have to align them after a timeline. I have actually been forced to write a mind map in order to just get everything in order. **

**It will be a bit too long for just one chapter. I would suspect that it will be closer to 1.8 chapters long. So I will release the "event" in three smaller chapters instead. Each one of these will be released with shorter intervals than the usual chapters because of their reduced lengths. Hopefully.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading. It has been a joy to write this story so far and a large part of it is because of the respons it has gotten. **

**Until next time, take care of each other.**


	21. Between the depths and the stars

**Another chapter that grew way bigger than expected.**

* * *

**Between the depths and the stars.**

Leone and Isamu could smell the smoke long before they could see the city. They had been traveling towards Garu for almost three days. Originally they had hoped to already be in Garu by now but their planned route to the city had been blocked by the huge force that Esdese had brought with her. So they had been forced to slowly follow the army as it marched down the path they had originally planned. Staying a day's march behind the imperial force. Avoiding any contact with the military.

It was already dark when they crossed the final hill towards the city. The sight that met them was everything that they had feared.

The entire area that around the city was filled with small lights. Coming from the many torches and fires that the army that encircled the city had. The city was completly surrounded by imperial forces. Staying a couple of hundred meters from the city's wall. And where the sea started, the navy took over. There were about fifteen ships laying at rest outside of the port. Firing at smaller ships that were moving out from the port.

The city itself was burning. So much smoke rose up into the black night that it was hard to see certain parts of Garu. They could see how Esdese's big flying creature flew around the city. Flying down and knocking some of the taller buidings every now and then.

Isamu drew a sharp breath at the sight. "Gods be damned."

Leone looked down at the scene with a dark expression. They stood like that for a little while before she spoke. "Let's go."

"You can't be serious." Isamu said and gave her a suprised look.

"Did that sound like a joke?"

"Going into that city is a suicide mission right now." he said in a serious tone.

"Probably." Leone admitted.

"You know that this is most likely a trap to destroy night raid?"

"It seems like that."

"And you still want to go down there?"

"Yeah."

"Are you sure that you are't insane?"

Leone shrugged with a smile. "Our friends are down there. We take care of each other. Even when the situation grows dire."

Isamu couldn't help but smile. "For being a group of murderes, you sure seem soft at times."

"Having regrets?" Leone said with a teasing smile. "Is your courage already leaving you?"

"Fine." Isamu sighed. "But how will we get into the city? I hope you don't suggest that we try to fight our way through the forces outside it."

"I guess we will have to improvise." she said and looked down at the city.

Isamu shook his head. "I guess that I am insane as well for following you into this."

"Let's go." Leone said again and started to run down towards the city. Isamu following closely behind her.

* * *

Akame ran through the smoke and fire. The city was burning all around her as she moved towards the other agents of the revolutionary army. Screams and panick could be heard everywhere around her. She was still wearing pieces of her disguise. Her face was still covered up but that didn't make much diffrence right now. Everyone around her were running for their lives. No one paid any attention to her.

She leaped in through an already broken window as she felt how the giant flying creature passed over the street. Roaring as it did. She did not want to attract Esdese's attention yet. She rushed through the house. Towards it's other side. She passed through an open door and were once again out in the streets. The woman that had been living in the house was lying on the street outside of it. A part of the wall had fallen down and crushed her. A small child was pulling at her arm, trying to get her out from the stones. Probably her child. Not willing to accept the obvious fact that she was dead.

Akame rushed down the street towards the hideout. She passed some members of the city watch that were fighting against the soldiers from the army. Hopelessly outnumbered. It seemed like Esdese's forces were indiscriminate in their slaughtering. Her decision to destroy the city extending to it's police force as well.

Akame didn't have time to engage in a fight until she knew what Najenda's plan was, though. Or if she even had one. But she couldn't risk revealing herself until she knew.

She ran past a coulpe of burning houses. People running out from them in panick. Some of them on fire themselves. She darted past the last corner and then she was in the alleyway that she had been running towards. She felt relief when she saw that the old storage building was not on fire yet. She ran towards it.

She met the people she was searching for in the doorway. Najenda, followed closely by a couple of other agents. Moving out from the hideout.

Najenda's eyes widened slightly. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I don't think anybody followed me here either." Akame said. Her breath slightly labored from all the running.

Najenda nodded. Her expression serious. "Good. I was afraid that you had already engaged with the enemy."

"What is the plan?"

"Our first priority is to help the civilians escape. If they can get out, then we can hide amongst them and get away as well."

Akame nodded.

"Most people are fleeing down towards the dock but I have been told that the port is a death trap. All the gates out of the city are sealed off by Esdese's forces but that is not the big problem. We can probably destroy one of those blockades easily and then hide before Esdese arrives."

"So what is the problem then?"

"The pillager is surrounding Garu with his forces. Even if people escape the city they will not escape them. We need to start some chaos in those forces if people are to escape."

Akame understood where this was going. "I will go and kill the pillager. That should disrupt their order."

Najenda shook her head. "No. You will not."

"I have a grudge to settle with that man." Akame argued. "He killed my subordinates."

"Sorry Akame, you will have settle that score in another life." Najenda said calmly. "Because there is one more teigu user that will destroy any chance we have of escaping. And I am not strong enough to survive a encounter with Esdese."

That took Akame back a bit. "You want me to go and meet Esdese?"

Najenda simply nodded.

"I thought that we had agreed that it was unwise to fight against Esdese as we are now? If you think that we can take her down then that is what we should focus on. If she falls then the entire military will be thrown into chaos."

"I don't like our chances against Esdese. So we will not try to kill her. Our focus is still on letting the civilians escape. But we need to ground her. We have to kill her steed. And that is what you will do."

Akame stood silent for some moments. Then she nodded. "Understood. Kill the flying beast and then escape. What will you be doing?"

"I think it is time that we ask our friend in the depths for a favour." Najenda said and smiled for the first time since they had met in the doorway. "I will call upon it's help to destroy the forces outside of the city."

"Will it answer our call?"

"I hope so." Najenda said. "And if it comes, then I need to be there. It is likely that the pillager himself will come out to fight, if our friend answers the call. That might give us an opportunity to bring him down."

"Will you be able to kill Makeias?" Akame wondered.

"I might. Depends on the situation. Either way, as long as the general is occupied, the people of the city will have a better chance to escape."

Akame nodded again. "I will need some people with me."

"Yeah I figured as much. I have brought some of your trainees." She said and gestured to those behind her. "One more thing, Akame."

"Hmm?"

Najenda reached into one of her pockets and took forth a letter. Sha handed it over to Akame. "These are your orders for after the battle. Only read them after you have escaped Esdese."

Akame took the letter from Najenda. "Good luck."

"Dont die today, Akame." she said somberly.

Akame nodded. "Same goes for you."

Najenda only smiled in response.

* * *

Tatsumi watched over the burning city from the the high hill that Makeias's main camp was placed on. The general standing beside him. Eating from a piece of bread. They could hear the firing of the guns down in the port but they could not hear any screams or any sound of battle from where they were standing. Neither could they see it. Because of the high wall rising around the city. Not a single person had escaped through the gates yet. It seemed like Esdese's blockades were doing most of Makeias's job for him.

"I always thought that handling a giant massacre such as this would be a bit more... gruesome." Tatsumi said.

"Scary, isn't it?." Makeias said as he chewed. "If you don't engage in it out of your own interest, like Esdese, a general can order the death of thousands of people and never have to hear a sound of it. That's the horrifying part."

"Conscience not withstanding." Tatsumi said emptly.

"If you have risen to the rank of general, then your hands are already pretty bloody." Makeias said and took another bite of his bread. "If you look at the essence of it, a soldier is a murderer. You may wrap as many fine intentions and righteous causes around that task as you can but in the end you are a tool for fighting. And only children thinks that real fighting doesn't mean death."

Tatsumi gave the general a cold look. "In that case, I guess you aren't that diffrent from the enemies you have pledged yourself to fight."

"Oh no, not at all." Makeias said, unperturbed. "We are all humans after all. There are only a few of us that actually enjoy misery in and of itself." he said and looked up at the beast that flew over the city.

Tom-Tom came walking up to their side. Followed by a couple of his fellow tribesmen. Makeias turned his head to him. "Anything new?"

Tom-Tom shook his head. "Everything seems to be proceeding as planned."

"Goody." Makeias said bitterly.

It looked like Tom-Tom was about to say something but halted himself as a new and unfamiliar sound emerged from the city.

A single solitude horn could be heard blowing. Even out to where they were standing. It's tone high and loud. Almost sounding beautiful. It seemed to be coming from somewhere near the city's port.

"That is the first horn I have heard tonight." Tatsumi commented.

"Probably the city watch trying to regroup." Makeias said. "I don't think that they will be spared from the slaughter so I guess they are trying to put up some resistance. As futile as that may-"

Makeias halted himself suddenly as Tom-Tom and all his guards stopped with what they were doing simultaneously. In unison they all turned their heads out towards the sea.

Makeias looked around and turned to Tom-Tom. "What is it?" he asked. Not having the same perceptive skill that all his guards did.

"Something is coming." Tom-Tom said silently. "From the depths."

"What is?" Makeias asked and looked out at the waves.

Then the answer to the horn came.

Even if it's tone was mellow and calm, it was strong enough to make Tatsumi feel like the bones in his body were shaking. It sounded like the callings of a whale. High pitched but still not shrill. It's volume so strong that Tatsumi could feel it in his body.

And then they could see how it started to emerge.

It began as a wave out in the sea. Barely visible in the pitch black waters. But as it got closer to the city, the wave grew bigger and bigger. And after a while, a big bulk of the creature's back started to emerge from the water. Rising higher and higher.

When it passed the imperial frigates is was so big and and high that it made one of the huge ships topple over as it passed them. Causing two others to be pushed to the side. One of them colliding into a third ship as it did.

The gargantuan creature rose up from the water just ouside of the wall. On their side of the city. Making giant waves drown out the entire shoreline, to then quickly stream back into the ocean as the creature left it. A kilometer from where Tatsumi and Makeias were standing. Fully rising up on the ground with two giant steps. It was the largest animal that any of them had ever seen.

It's head and body looked like that of giant whale. It's head not seperated from the body by a neck and the body itself ending in a giant tail that were dragged on the ground behind it as it walked. The end of the tail was an enormous fin. A bit wider than the body itself. The body had three diffrent sets of giant limbs on it's sides. The lowest set looked like the legs and feet of an elephant. Just a hundred times larger. The middle ones looked more like arms. With elbows and ending in three claw like fingers on each hand. They were holding what looked like a huge metal beam. Thick and large. The final set of limbs on the creature was the biggest ones. Two thick arms that ended in giant crab-like claws. So big that the creature walked with them in the ground as it moved. Just like a gorilla would.

The creature was hunched forward as it rose from the sea. Like a dinousaur. But it still loomed much higher that the wall that encircled the city. Probably three times as high as the biggest house in the city.

The beast was a bit taller than the colossal danger beasts that he and Esdese had fought on that tropical island, so long ago, Tatsumi reflected. But this beast was much wider and probably eight times as long.

"What is that?" Tom-Tom asked silently.

The giant beast took a long and slow step forward and bent down slightly. Then it swung the large iron tool it was holding in a long arc, close to the ground. Lifting it's crab claws to be able to complete the arc. Making the trees that were close to the water fly into the air. The iron tool leveling the forest close to it along with all the troops and soldiers that were hiding in it. Crushing half of them and sending the other half flying up into the air, along with the trees.

After the devastating swing was done, the creature took another giant step forward. Making the ground shake under it's weight.

"Well, I think we can assume that it is hostile." Makeias said as he watched how his forces started to flee from the giant from the depths.

"We have brought no hunters with us that are capable of bringing such a creature down." Tom-Tom said in stressed voice as the beast took another long swing. Clearing out more of the imperial army outside of the wall.

Makeias nodded. "Order a full retreat of all forces from that creature." he said and reached over to grab one of the spears on his back. "I will have to deal with this one myself."

"It seems somewhat intelligent." Tatsumi said. "It is only going after your forces and it dosen't seem to be interested in killing them for the purpose of feeding."

"Indeed." Makeias answered. "I don't believe that this is a mere coincidence. That creature is an ally to someone in the city." he said and looked over at Tatsumi. "Stay behind me but keep yourself far away from the fighting. I don't want to have to look after you if things goes south."

Tatsumi nodded and Makeias turned his eyes to Tom-Tom. "You and your guards will stay behind Tatsumi. I don't want him to run away or try any funny business while I am occupied."

"Understood." Tom-Tom said. "But do you think that you can take that one down on your own?" he continued and looked over at monstrous beast as it slowly got closer to their position.

Makeias smiled. "Size, brawn or fangs means nothing when disease and sickness is your opponents." he said. Summoning his teigu inside of himself.

* * *

Esdese big steed roared as it's big legs crushed the top of yet another house that they were flying by. Fying into the building with it's lower body. Making it topple over. Falling down into the fire and chaos down in the streets. Where civilian, soldiers and guards all ran around, disorganized.

The extermination of the city's population had turned rather chaotic. There was not much formation or order among her own troops. Most just running around in groups. Searching for civilians to prey upon or opponents to fight. But that was just as Esdese had intended it. She wanted to turn the city into an orgy of violence, suffering and death. She wanted to drive the entire city into madness. In order for the strongest ones to emerge on top. So that she then could pick those off and maybe find some worthy opponents.

Though she had found no such luck yet. She had circled the city and looked around for something special but she hadn't seen anything yet. Yet she was certain that no one had escaped the city either, since none of the blockades had been broken and Makeias hadn't reported anything. However, the night was still young and they had not even worked their way through half of the city's population yet. There was still plenty of time.

But if it turned out that night raid was not in this city, then she knew a couple of spies, agents and officers that were gonna lose their eyes. And that would just be the beginning.

Though, right now her attention was currently occupied by the gargantuan creature that had risen outside of the city wall. She had heard the horn blow and had steered her mount towards it but had not been able to find it's source when she circulated the port. And then the beast had risen up. In all it's monstrous might.

She had looked at this monster from the depths since it emerged from the sea. Struck with wonder and amazement by just the sheer size of it. She loved hunting and she always went for the biggest and most dangerous game that there was. Always going straight for the top of the foodchain. Wishing to crush and feast on the proudest and most confident of predators.

Yet she had never seen something like that. Some of the biggest animals she had hunted down would barely serve as a snack for that gigantic creature.

"Now there's a trophy for you." she called out to no one in particular. If she hadn't been working she would have liked to try and tame and domesticate it. So that she could study it more before it's end. In hopes of finding where she could find more of it's kind. But now she had more important things to get done.

She pulled at the chain and steered her steed towards the enormous beast. She would bring it down swiftly and then continue to patrol the city.

As she altered her course, the colossal beast brough up one of it's giant crab claws and smashed it through the big wall that encircled the city. The stone crushed down and crumbling under the sheer weight of the beast's limb. The wall collapsed to the sides and left a huge opening and a big dust cloud in it's wake.

_Well, so much for my blockade_, Esdese thought. Now it would all come down to Makeias's encircling forces. She would seal that opening with some ice but Makeias would have to stop those that escaped through that hole in the meantime.

But as she was thinking about it, black smoke started to rise up from the cloud of dust at the monster's feet. Rising upwards quickly. Suddenly the creature struck down into the smoke with it's big metal tool but Esdese couldn't see what it was aiming for. But she could guess.

She recognized the aura that the black fog emitted and she knew what it meant. Even if she had never seen it before. Makeias himself was fighting the beast.

_So now no one is stopping those that try to escape, s_he thought with irritation._ And if you are fighting that creature, then who is watching over my Tatsumi in his temporary weakness?_

He should not have left his post, she concluded. She would need to punish him for that. Not anything too severe though. Provided that he brought down the creature quickly and that Tatusmi was still safe.

She was about to change the course of her steed again when the first attack of the night came at her.

They jumped up from several windows and roofs at the same time. All flying towards her from diffrent directions. Taking their chance as her mount flew a little bit lower. There were seven of them. All wearing the same type of hoods that covered up their hair and heads. Leaving their faces hidden in shadow.

Unbeknownst to Esdese, their target was her mount. And six of them were only supposed to act as diversion so that Akame would be able to cut the beast.

Akame herself was flying towards the creature from the front. Aiming to do a small cut in it's wing. Hoping that the fact that she was hard to recognize would make her position less threatening and therefore less likely to get a response. Akame hadn't liked this idea in the slightest. She hated the idea that the people that she had trained and watched over now were acting as a distraction to cover up for her. Even though she was more proficient in combat than them by far.

But she knew that this tactic had the highest chance of success. She knew that she had to prioritize the mission right now.

And just as she had suspected, the response was fast and relentless. With a lightning fast swing of her arm, Esdese shot two sharp pieces of ice down towards the two attackers that were pretending to aim for the beasts head. One of them managed to bring up her weapon in time and deflect the ice. The other one was too slow and the big spear of ice skevered his body. Sending it flying back in the opposite direction of where he had been going.

Then Esdese turned around and gave those coming at her from behind the same treatment. Only that she this time used much larger pieces of ice. Each chunk bigger than a human. Making blocking the projectiles impossible. All three hit their targets and crushed their victims.

Akame watched with agony as her friends were swatted down like flies. She only had a couple of meters left. She was almost there.

Esdese turned her attention to the one who was aiming for the wing that Akame wasn't heading for. She easily dispatched of that attacker as well. Shot down by an ice lance through the stomach.

Akame was less than five meters away from her target when Esdese's eyes started turning towards her. Akame could feel how Esdese gaze landed on her when she had three meters left. Their eyes met for a fraction of a second.

Then the last one of Akame's trainees landed behind Esdese. The one that had managed to deflect the attack. She already had her sword drawn. Identically in design to Akame's blade. Esdese turned around with lightning speed. Drawing her weapon and swinging it in the same fluid motion. The girl she was attacking was fast. One of Akame's fastest trainees. She managed to bring her sword up to block in time.

But she lacked the strength. Esdese's long sword was barely slowed down by the blocking blade. Forcing it to the side as Esdese's arm completed the swing. Cutting the smaller girl in half, just below the chest. Sending her flying off the beast to the side. The cleaved body falling down into the city in a shower of blood.

Before Esdese could sheath her weapon, her steed started to descend rapidly. The creature under her already killed by the power of Murasame.

Akame landed in a small alleway. She sheated her weapon and started running. She was the only one that had made it. She had been in this scenario before but it still sickened her to the core. Everyone else had died for this mission. They all knew that this might be how things would go. Since Esdese were very capable with ranged attacks and they would not be able to alter their courses once they had jumped towards her steed. But it still hurt to be the only survivor. It hurt a lot.

Akame ran as fast as she could through a burning house and into a small back street. She heard a loud bang in the distance and found a small consolation in that she had brough the flying beast down. At least she had managed to see to it that her friends sacrifices weren't in vain. All her dear little trainees. Now just more bodies to add on to the endless pile of victims of the empire.

Akame repressed her anger and sorrow and focused on her next objective. She needed to go and help Najenda with the pillager.

She ran over a slightly larger street, keeping close to the ground as she did. She jumped through a window and ran through yet another house. Leaping out from a backdoor and out into yet another small alleyway. She ran to the corner of the empty alley that led out to a bigger road which would lead her to where Najenda would be. She had been in this city for three weeks and knew her way around it pretty well.

She leaned out of the corner and looked around. She could her voices from not too far away but didn't see anyone. She crouched down a little bit. She would have to move fast and stay low. She put her hand on her sheated sword and gathered some energy in her legs.

Then, with a loud bang, Esdese landed three meters behind her.

* * *

Most off the imperial forces outside of the city were fleeing from the monster. Many of them having heard the retreat orders. But the giant leviathan was no longer focusing on the forces fleeing from it. The beast was fighting an opponent that it couldn't catch up with. It's small enemy moving fast around it. Spreading black smoke where it went. The enemy had stabbed it in it's legs and body several times. The wounds were very small to the giant creature but for some reason it was starting to lose it's energy nonetheless. It felt weaker with every moment that passed.

Makeias jumped op on the behemoth's arm and then up unto the side of it's body. Stabbing the spear he had in his hand into it with all his strength. Pushing it into the monster until half of it was buried. The beast barely reacted to the spear in and of itself but all the small wounds were starting to matter. Morbus was spreading in it's veins like wildfire. Now it was only a matter of time.

Makeias left his spear in the beast and jumped down. Disappearing into the dark smoke that surrounded the giant animal's legs.

It only took a couple of more minutes before the giant creature started to stumble. It swayed slightly back and forth. As if it was heavily intoxicated. And then, with a deep and low grunt, the beast finally tipped to the side. Falling right through the big wall at it's side. Collapsing down into the city. Crushing two blocks of houses as it did. A giant dustcloud rising into the air around it. Snuffing out most of the fires close to it.

Makeias jumped up on the giant beast's body. He walked over to his spear and pulled it out of it's body. He sighed. "And once again, one of the most astounding things in this world is reduced to a part of the past."

The black smoke started to dissipate. Some soldiers were starting to move closer to the creature's giant body. Some of Esdese soldiers from inside the city. Makeias own troops were still in the retreat. Since no order had been given to return.

Tatsumi jumped up on the giant creature as well. He had remained in the background as Makeias brought down the beast. Shadowed by Tom-Tom and his guards.

He walked towards the general with unsure steps. "Is it dead?"

"Depends on how you define dead." Makeias said and looked at his spear. The blood from the creature that was on it was turning black. Festering so fast that you could see it with the naked eye. "Some of it's organs are still functioning normally. But it's heart has stopped and I don't think that it is conscious anymore."

"Dead then." Tatsumi said and walked up to him."That was... impressive." Some of Esdese's soldiers were moving up on the giant beast as well.

"The beast was unlucky that I was here. There are many teigu's who wouldn't be able to do anything against this creature. It just happens that size is irrelevant when fighting me." Makeias said. "But then again, the ice queen could probably have brought down this monster as well. Speaking of which..."

Makeias looked out over the burning city. "..where is Esdese?"

Tatsumi looked up into the sky but couldn't see Esdese's flying steed anywhere. "I guess that she has chosen to particapate in the fighting personally." he said darkly.

Makeias didn't answer. There was something about his expression that worried Tatsumi. There was something the man was suspecting that Tatsumi was unaware of.

Some of Esdese's soldiers where now approaching the two of them. Having climbed up on the beast themselves. Their uniforms and face covering helmets marking them as Esdese's.

"Soldiers." Makeias said without turning his eyes away from the city. The soldiers behind him saluted. "I have a task for you. Find my second in command and tell him to stop the retreat and reestablish a perimeter around the city. Also spread the word to your own forces to start looking for Esdese."

"Yes sir!" the one closest to Makeias answered.

Tatsumi froze. He knew that voice. He hadn't heard it for two years but he still remembered it immediately. Suddenly he understood. He realized why Esdese had come here. He realized why the entire city was on fire. He realized the true reason for this destruction.

Without a sound, the soldier that had answered Makeias flew at his back. And before the general could react, the soldier shoved a long and thin knife into his chest from behind.

"Hrrrg!" Makeias grunted and swung around. Swinging his spear against his attacker as he did. The soldier jumped back quickly. Avoiding the swing with some centimeters.

Makeias and his attacker stared at each other for some seconds. Then Makeias slowly reached with his hand to his back and drew the knife out of himself. It's blade covered in a black liquid. Much like the one that dripped from his spears.

"A worthy try." Makeias said with grim smile. "But no steel can kill me." He dropped the knife down in front of the soldier.

"Let us put that to the test, shall we?" Najenda said and removed the helmet that covered her face. Behind her, her subordinates did the same. Najenda cast a quick glance down at the body that they were standing on. She had communicated with this creature for a long while. He had been older than the empire itself and was most likely the last of his kind. There was a sadness there but now was not the time to mourn.

"Oooh hoho, Najenda. It's been ages, my lady. Do you remember me?" Makeias said as his dark smile widened.

"I remember a young and hopeful man that was sent off to the borders. You seem to have changed quite a lot since then, Makeias."

"Quite so. War will do that to a man." he answered. "I am guessing that telling you to lay down your weapons is meaningless."

"Yeah. Almost insulting to our resolve actually." Najenda said.

"My apologies, my lady." Makeias said and bowed mockingly.

Najenda matched his smile. "I'm sorry but we have come to assassinate you, pillager."

"As many have before you. Yet here I stand." Makeias said. "Your line of business seems to be filled with unprofessionalism."

"Oh believe me, general. We are not like most assassins." Najenda said.

"Prove it!" Makeias challenged and took a step forward. He spun around twice and then threw the spear in his hand towards them. The spear spinning around so fast that it looked more lika disk than a spear. The throw was aimed a little bit too high to risk hitting anyone of them. But Najenda immediately realized that it was not for that reason Makeias had thrown it.

As the spear spinned around, it sent thousands of small black droplets flying away from it. Spreading out from it like a tornado as it spinned. And Najenda knew that if a single one of those droplets touched their skin, they would be at a serious disadvantages. She knew a little bit about the abilities of Morbus. Yet there was way too many of them, flying towards her and her subordnates. They only had one choice.

"Get back!" Najenda shouted and jumped backwards. Her subordinates doing the same as the blade spinned towards them. But as they did, Makeias was coming at them with his other spear drawn. Having launched himself towards them at a much higher speed than his thrown spinning spear. Flying through all the droplets himself as he got close. Immune to their effects.

Tatsumi watched how Makeias started to fight Najenda and her subordinates. Panicking internally. It was easy to see that Najenda and her companions were being pushed back. It took less than ten seconds for Makeias to kill one of her subordinates. Slicing through her stomach as he spun around. It didn't take too long for the next one to be incapacitated as Makeias kicked him in the head. Knocking him out.

Tatsumi didn't know what to do. Everyhting was happening so fast. It was only some moments ago that he had realized that Esdese had come here to find night raid. And now he was watching how Najenda was being pushed back.

He didn't know if he should help them or not. Could he make a diffrence without Incursio? Should he risk it? If he engaged then he needed to make sure that Makeias didn't survive. Otherwise Esdese would learn about it. Should he try and stop the fighting entirely then. He didn't know how he would do that. His mind raced as Najenda was pressed into a corner.

She was the only one left now. Fighting against Makeias who was now wielding both of his spears. He had taken some heavy hits but it didn't seem to slow him down. He spinned around and kicked Najenda in the side. Making her shriek out in pain. The kick sending her flying to the side for a second before landing and rolling around a couple of times before immediately getting up. But Makeias was already standing over her by then. Kneeing her in the face as she was about to stand up.

And suddenly there were no choices for Tatsumi. Seeing her getting beat down called forth his older nature. That brash and less conniving part of him that he thought he had evolved from.

Makeias raised his spear to strike down at Najenda. But as he was about to swing, Tatsumi kicked him in the side from behind.

* * *

Leone rushed through the waves of fleeing imperial soldiers. None of the soldiers bothering with her as she ran in the opposite direction. She was heading straigth for the now fallen leviathan that had fallen through the walll. It was still very far away but she could see what was going on. Najenda was fighting someone on top of it. And while Leone didn't recognize her opponent, she could see that her friend needed help.

What suprised her was that there was someone else there that was helping Najenda fight. Someone that looked an awful lot like a boy she had left down in the torture chambers. Either way, Najenda was being pushed back by her opponent. A tall and vey slender man. Fighting with two black spears. Leone needed to get there fast.

A couple of meters behind her, Isamu followed. Panting heavily. Not really sure why they were heading over. Lacking Lionelle's sharp eyes. But he followed her nonetheless. He had accepted her as his superior. Since he wanted to become a part of night raid.

After some moments they were running alone. All the fleeing imperial soldiers behind them. They ran through the giant hole in the wall that encircled the city. Jumping through the debris and rubble of the wall and the houses that the beast had crushed in it's fall. They were starting to get close to the gigantic body now. Leone was about to call out to Najenda but suddenly halted herself.

There was a single figure standing in their way. Right in front of the leviathan's body. It was an old man in grey robes. Hunched forward. Inhumanely tall and very slender. Leaning on a long wooden staff with what looked like an owl sitting on his shoulder. He had a beard that almost reached down to the ground.

Tom-Tom was obstructing their path.

Leone stopped when he was about twenty meters away from her. Isamu almost running into her as she suddenly halted.

"Whoaw" he said as he stopped himself. "Why are we stopping? What happened?"

Leone simply nodded to the figure in front of them.

Isamu looked at the appearance of the old man. "So? It's just one old man. We can run past him."

Leone didn't answer directly. There was something about the man that made her uneasy. Something about what Lionelle's instincts told her. The man in front of them was completly calm. To a level that Leone had never seen someone be in such a dangerous scenario. She had plenty of friends that knew how to supress and control themselves in stressed scenarios but this was diffrent. The man in front of her was not staying composed, he simply wasn't bothered by the scenario. Completely and calmly balanced. He was so calm that Leone started to wonder if he understood what was happaning all around him.

She took two steps forward. Her eye glued to the old giant. "We are going up on the creature's body." she said tentatively.

"No. You are not." the old man calmly answered.

Leone had a feeling that he would say something like that. "And what are you going to do about it?"

"Stop you." Tom-Tom answered in his slow and raspy voice. Still remining perfectly still.

"Come on, old man." Isamu called out. "We don't want to fight you. Just step aside."

"If you don't want to fight, then I suggest you turn around and return to where you came from. Either way, you will not pass."

"A fight it is then." Leone said and took a step forward. She didn't have time to spare. Najenda needed her help.

Tom-Tom lifted his staff to the side. Then he loosened his grip on it slightly. Making it glide down while staying in his hand. When the bottom of the staff hit the ground, the attack began.

They came from everywhere at once. Leone did barely have time to react as the first blade shot up through the rubble right in front of her. Less than a meter away. The attack was so sudden and fast that the long metal blade went deep into her shoulder before she jumped backwards. It's touch cold and quick.

As she landed a couple of steps back, her assailant rose up from the rubble. He had been hiding under it. All around them they rose up from under to debris and stone. Men as tall and slender as the one obstructing their part. Even the smallest one of them was about twice as tall as Leone. But unlike Tom-Tom, these ones were younger and carried imperial uniforms. Every one of them was equipped with two long and thin swords.

Makeias's personal guards.

Leone could tell a lot of things about their fighting style just by their swords. The swords were too thin to cut through any armor and too long to be able to block an attack without breaking. These swords were made for quick and nimble attacks. They were made to give their users the benefit of range and speed. Which meant that these blades were probably sharp as razors. And their users probably fast as lightning.

"Careful." she said to Isamu and went into a fighting stance as their opponents rose all around them. "Theses guys are fast. If you give them an opening, it will be your end."

Isamu nodded and put his back against her. Watching as their opponents slowly moved closer from all sides.

Leone cast a quick glance up at the fight on top of the beast's corpse but that one didn't seem to go any better than their situation.

"Stay down!" Makeias ordered and stomped down on Tatsumi's back as he tried to get up again. "Calm down, Tatsumi. Get a hold of yourself."

Tatsumi only wheezed in response.

His contribution to the battle had been minimal but he had managed to act as a worthy distraction. Since Makeias didn't want to seriously damage him. Tatsumi knew that he and Najenda had been outgunned in this fight but he had been unsure by how much. What had suprised him the most in this combat was how fast and acrobatic the imperial general was. Makeias usual movements were dull and slow. So it had taken Tatsumi with suprise. Makeias's physical demeanor a facade, just as so much else of the general.

Now most of Tatsumi's energy was spent. Barely having enough strength to stand up again. Najenda wasn't much better off. She was lying ten meters away from him. Panting heavily. She was a bit roughed up but didn't have any heavy injuries. But she knew that Makeias had managed to infect her. She could feel how her own body was fighting against something. Internally.

She coughed roughly. Making Makeias look over at her. He pressed Tatsumi down once more with his foot and then walked over to her.

"I apologise for letting you suffer longer than necessary." he said as he bent down and grabbed her neck. He lifted her body up until her feet were dangling in the air. "I will finish this now."

Najenda smiled grimly down at him. "Take no prisoners, huh?"

"We have been ordered to bring you to Esdese alive if possible. But I know what will happen to you if I do that. And while they call me the pillager, I am not that cruel."

"How noble of you." Najenda mocked.

Makeias was not smiling. "Stay still and this will be easier for the both of us." he said silently.

Najenda felt how something started to seep into her body from the hand that was holding her around the throat. She couldn't tell what it was from the feeling alone. It just felt like something was intruding into her. But she knew what it was. She knew that Morbus was starting to corrupt her.

She felt how it ate away at her energy. She started to feel heavy and sleepy. She felt like relaxing and staying still. Just as the imperial general had told her.

But in the end, she couldn't. She was and had always been a fighter. If she was gonna die, she would do it fighting.

With lightning speed, she reached the small knife that was hidden in her sleeve. She brought her arm up and swung it towards Makeias neck as fast as he could.

But Makeias was still faster.

He brought his arm up to block the attack from hitting his neck. But due to the fact that he was holding his spear, his move was a bit dull. The knife pierced the side of his arm as he stopped it. When the small blade emerged from the other side of his limb it was pitch black.

Najenda grimaced at the failed attack but Makeias barely seemed to register the damage. He was still calmly looking at her face.

"You know," he said in a sad tone. "I really used to admire you. Back when you were still a part of the empire. I looked up to you a lot. As the stupid little boy I was. I wanted to climb in ranks and gain fame in order to impress you."

Makeias yanked his arm with the knife in it to the side. Making it fall down on the ground.

"But when I became a general I was sent to the front. And that is where that foolish boy died. When I returned, you had already betrayed the empire." He shook his head. "Things could have been so diffrent if you had just been a bit more resilient to the cruelties of the empire. Yet now that I look at you, I realize that I still admire you."

Najenda coughed. Bringing Makeias out of his reminiscing. "I'm sorry. I am making this longer than it needs to be. I will let you wither now."

His grip around her throat tightened and Najenda's body became limp.

"Stop." Tatsumi tried to shout but didn't get any force into his voice.

He started to stand up again but he had little strength left in him. His arms shook as he raised himself up. His attention was however brought to the side by a loud and angry call.

"HEEEY" Leone cried out from the battle down in the rubble.

Tatsumi turned his head towards her. He hadn't even noticed that they were there.

It was easy to see that they were having difficulties. Not that they were being pushed back but they had problems getting past their quick and tall opponents. She and Isamu had been seperated in the battle. Standing a bit away from each other.

But that actually suited Leone's idea.

It had been clear to her that it would take time before they could get past these slender and fast giants that they were fighting. They would not be able to get to Najenda in time. They had only managed to kill one of their opponents and there were about twenty of them left. They hadn't even gotten close to Tom-Tom, who hadn't moved an inch since his tribesmen attacked them. Simply watching them with his attentive blue eyes.

So as far as she could see, she only had one choice left. It was a crazy bet to make but desperation had forced her to this. She once again choose to trust her instincts.

"Now!" she shouted to Isamu.

Immediately Isamu shot away five coiling projectiles towards their opponents. The group moved out of the way with ease. As they had done so many times already. But they had not been the intended target.

The projectiles moved past them and flew towards Tom-Tom. Who was standing between the fighting group and the giant cadaver. Tom-Tom had seen where the attack was heading long before his subordinates. He was the quickest one of them all. He easily jumped a couple of meters to the side as he avoided the water projectiles.

But now the way was clear.

Leone clenched her teeth. _Please... please remember all that we have been through together. Please.. _, she thougth as she reached up and grabbed the blade on her back.

"TATSUMMIIIII!" she screamed and slung the teigu through the air. Following right behind Isamu's projectiles.

Tom-Tom noticed the flying weapon. Not realizing what it was, thinking that it was aimed at Makeias. In a flash he threw his staff up towards the weapon. It hit the mid-sized sword and altered it's track a bit.

Tatsumi would have recognized that blade in any situation. With the last pieces of his strength, he moved up and ran towards the edge of the giant body that they were standing on. The sword was not gonna reach all the way, due to Tom-Tom's staff. He needed to meet it.

Makeias didn't recognize the blade but he had a good guess of what was going on. He would not take the risk. The arm that was not holding Najenda started to do a swing of the spear in it's hand. Intending to send a shower of black little droplets of Morbus in Tatsumi's path. Stopping the boy's chances.

But as his arm moved up, Najenda's limp body sprung into motion. One of her legs moved up and kicked his arm down. Stopping his swing in it's track.

"Tchh" Makeias said with irritation. Fully releasing Morbus into the neck that he was holding.

Tatsumi used every last ounce of energy that he had left in him and jumped off the edge of the corpse of the giant leviathan. Flying fifty meters above the hard pavement. With basically no strength left and no way to catch himself.

But Tatsumi felt no fear. In that moment, everything was so simple to him. Everything was as it had once been. He realized, as he flew through the air, that he still loved his friends. That even after all this time, they were still his family. Even if they themselves hated him. And even if they wished him dead, he would still protect them. And now when death was staring them straight in the face, Tatsumi felt like his decision was one of the easiest ones in a long time.

He reached out with his arm and finally, at long last, his hand grabbed hold of his brother's last gift to him.

"**IINNNNNNCCUURRSSIOOOOOOOOOOOO!**"

A giant dust cloud exploded around Tatsumi and the blade with a loud boom. A blast of power emerging from the figure of the boy. So strong and mighty that everyone with the smallest sense of perception in the city could feel it. Making the wind blow strongly against those standing in the vicinity of him.

Makeias's eyes widened in disbelief as Tatsumi landed a mere ten meters from him. Wearing the evolved form of Incursio.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**There we go. The first one out of the three chapters that will be about the battle of Garu. I said that these chapters would be smaller and and be released quickly but I was unable to restrict these scenarios. They needed to breath a bit. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. There is more to come. Hopefully I will be able to keep the next one under control. So that it will be a little bit smaller and be released in 7-8 days.**

**I would like to thank you all for reading. If it wasn't for your feedback, this story would probably not go on.**

**Until next time, take care of each other.**


	22. Between growth and decay

**IRL troubles are responsible for this monstrous delay. I apologies.**

**I hope that you are still there and still interested.**

* * *

**Between growth and decay.**

Akame had to move at her highest speed in order to avoid the barrage of ice chunks that Esdese was sending after her. She jumped through the window of a wall that had once belonged to a house. Now being the only part of the structure that was still standing. She zigzagged past some other ruins and remains of structures and buildings. The crushing ice attacks always coming down just a few meters behind her. Destroying all the remains of the houses.

"Come on! Come on!" Esdese shouted excitedly. Swinging her arms in swift motions. Sending more ice against Akame. "Can't you even handle this?"

Esdese knew that Akame was mainly a close quarter fighter so she had taken control of the battle by using her proficiency with projectiles. Now the entire area around them mostly consisted of demolished buildings and ruins. All the fire in their vicinity had been snuffed out by the debris or the ice. They were basically the only ones nearby. Most other people had either fled or been crushed under Esdese's attack. Her constant bombardment made it difficult for Akame to get close to her.

Not that Esdese disliked the idea of accepting Akame's challenge in close combat but first she would have to earn it.

Akame's agenda was a bit diffrent though. Her main objective was not to defeat Esdese but to escape her. Najenda had deemed this fight too unfavourable for them so Akame had accepted her plan. Even if she wanted to avenge the friends that Esdese had killed and taken from her. Getting away was easier said than done, though. She had tried to escape a couple of times but Esdese always catched up to her quickly. Akame had concluded that it would be hard to get away without some kind of distraction. But she hadn't been able to find one yet.

She stayed low and moved between some piles of stone and then jumped over a still intact wall. But when she landed, Esdese was standing fifteen meters in front of her.

"Catch!" Esdese shouted with a smile and summoned the biggest projectile yet towards Akame. A ice block as big as a house. Akame was forced to jump up in the air in order to avoid it. And when she was midair, Esdese sent a hail of ice spears towards her. She managed to deflect most of them but one of them scraped the side of one of her thighs. Making her blood trail down her leg. But when Akame landed, she was thankful to feel that wound was nothing serious.

They both stood still and watched each other for some seconds after her landing. Akame's hands on her sword and Esdese holding one arm up in the air to her side.

"Are you afraid to fight me up close? I thought you were a formidable warrior? Not a coward." Akame tried to taunt.

"I am strong enough to deal with you in any way that I please." Esdese said calmly.

"So you just choose to try and kill me with ineffective ranged attacks. "

"You talk the talk." Esdese said with a threatening smile. "But you have yet to walk the walk. If you manage to come close enough, I will reward you with my sword."

They stood and looked at each other for some more seconds. Then Akame dashed off. She didn't try a direct approach, since she was confident that Esdese's attacks would force her to change her path either way. Instead she moved to the side while she closed in on Esdese. Alternating her speed every now and then in order to make it harder for Esdese to appreciate where she was gonna be in the next moment. So that she would have a harder time to know where she should aim her projectiles.

And it seemed to work. Most of the ice attacks that Esdese threw at her were either landing behind her or were directed so far in front of her that she could easily avoid them. When Akame had almost run a circle around Esdese she was about eight meters away from her. Then she changed her course. Going straight towards Esdese. Spending a lot of energy to accelerate even more and make her movements even more erratic.

Esdese choosed to continue with her ice attacks. Flinging spears and blocks towards her. But none of them hit their target. Akame's movements were still too hard to read for Esdese. Even if she was learning Akame's tricks at a dangerous pace. But now Akame was less than two meters from her and Esdese had not drawn her weapon yet. Akame thought that Esdese's arrogance had given her a chance but quickly learned elsewise.

When she started to swing towards Esdese, ice shot up from where her opponent was standing. Several long and sharp spikes shooting up towards her. Akame only bearly managed to back off in time. Since she had to both stop her momentum in order to not impale herself on the ice and then had to move some steps back as the ice quickly grew. One of the thin points of the spears sliced the side of her face as she jumped backwards.

"Well done!" Esdese complimented. Akame looked up from the spikes and Esdese was right in front of her. Weapon drawn and swinging towards her with both hands. Having pursued when Akame backed off from the ice spikes.

Akame brought up her weapon to block the attack but she had no proper stance since she was still moving backwards. The strength of Esdese's attack made her fly to the side. Esdese gestured with her arm and a new set of spikes rose up towards Akame from the place where she was going to land. Akame did however notice this in time and drove her sword into the ice. Using it to stop herself from flying into it.

She landed on her feet beside the ice after she had managed to stop. Esdese was already walking towards her. One hand holding her weapon and the other one placed on her hips. Swaggering towards Akame at a leisury pace. Akame raised her sword towards Esdese and took a fighting stance.

"Those were some quick moves." Esdese called out. "I had a hard time reading you for a moment there. But you have not suprised me yet."

Akame didn't answer Esdese. She simply focused all her attention on Esdese's movements while she tried to think of a diversion. The best way to distract Esdese would probably be to move their fighting to a diffrent area. Her best chance to get away might actually be to get some more people involved in this fight.

Esdese was starting to get dangerously close and Akame started to get ready. Taking a deep breath as she gathered her energy.

But before either one of them could move, a loud boom could be heard in the distance and just a heartbeat after that they both felt how a huge wave of power washed over them. Coming from the west part of the city. Where the leviathan had fallen through the wall.

Both of them shifted their heads towards the direction of the source by instinct.

Akame was unsure of what the feeling came from. She thought she recognized it from somewhere but she couldn't quite place it. She had forgotten what it's origin had been the last time she felt it.

But Esdese recognized the feeling the wave of power gave her. She had felt it so many times before but never of this magnitude. She could almost taste it. It teased her. It made her want to go and find it's source. She wanted to beat it into submission and then pour all her love into it until the day she died. The battle had made her excited but now she could feel how she was starting to get turned on. Just by the wave of power that showered over her perceptive instincts. Making them wake up and stand on absolute edge. The thing she had so patiently been waiting for had finally started to happen. The bud had finally started to bloom.

"Oohhhh..." Esdese sighed with a longing smile. Her cheeks red and her eyes dreamy. "Tatsumi..."

* * *

"What the fuc-" was the only thing Makeias managed to say before Tatsumi's fist connected with his chest. He had been fast enough to block Tatsumi's spear with his own much thinner weapon. But since he was holding Najenda, he couldn't block Tatsumi's punch. The hit sent the general flying off from the side of the giant corpse they were standing on. As he did, he dropped Najenda's limp body. She landed on the side and tumbled down the same side which Makeias was flying down from. The opposite side of where Leone and Isamu were fightnig Tom-Tom and his men.

But Tatsumi didn't have time to help Najenda right now. Now he was seriously fighting the pillager. And he knew that if this fight became a battle of attrition then Makeias would always win. He needed to bring the general down as fast as possible.

Makeias flew down towards the streets with his back first. But before he could crash down on the pavement, Tatsumi was there. Makeias did however notice this and swung with his spear in the air. Sending down a rain of black droplets towards Tatsumi. But Tatsumi didn't avoid them. Letting the many drops hit the armor of Incursio.

As soon as the black drops landed on the white armor they started to sizzle. As if they were being dropped into a hot frying pan. Tatsumi's teigu easily repelling and destroying Morbus attempts to infect it. Incusio's defensive abilities were now so strong that Morbus didn't stand a chance with such small quantity.

Makeias didn't have time to act suprise as he involuntarily flew down to the waiting Tatsumi. When he got close Tatsumi swung his weapon at him but Makeias once again blocked it with his thinner and longer spear. But he was unable to block the kick that Tatsumi threw against him as soon as he blocked the weapon. The kick hit him in the side. Sending Makeias flying away through the street before he had landed from Tatsumi's first attack.

Tatsumi followed after him just like last time. Not stopping for a second. He knew that the moment Makeias got a chance to recuperate, his own chances of winning would sink dramatically.

This time Makeias noted that Tatsumi followed him. He drove his own spear down into the ground to alter his course. Tatsumi did however realize what the general was trying to do and threw his own spear. He didn't aim for Makeias body since he knew that the general would most likely block it. Instead he aimed for his long and ruined cloak. His spear pierced the cloth and nailed it to the ground.

Makeias entire body was yanked to a halt by his coats fastenings around his throat, just before he was about to push himself to the side. And before he could regain any form of control of his movement, Tatsumi was on him again. He kicked Makeias again but this time he had time to block. He brought his spear up and blocked the kick with it as if it was a staff. But he still wasn't touching the ground and Tatsumi's attack tore off the part of his cloak that was nailed to the ground and flung him to the side. Smashing him into the wall of a house on the side of the road.

They had moved twenty meters away from where the giant leviathan's body had fallen down and crushed the blocks and houses. Najenda had now rolled down the side of the giant creature and was lying in the street beside it. Face down and unmoving.

Tatsumi grabbed his spear and drew it up from the ground. He looked over at the general and realized that he should have left the spear.

Makeias was lying on his stomach. Using his elbows to raise himself up. He was coughing heavily. Tatsumi's kicks and flying into the wall had made him lose his breath. But his eyes were glued to Tatsumi and he was still holding his spear.

"..cough... cough.. To me... cough... Morbus..." he said as he started to slowly stand up.

Tatsumi brought up his spear and jumped towards Makeias but it was a little bit too late.

"All shall wither!" Makeias exclaimed as Tatusmi got close. And as he said that, smoke erupted from his mouth, nose and wounds. Immediately engulfing the general and spreading out in all directions.

Tatsumi halted himself and jumped a couple of steps back. He knew that this was not just a smoke screen. The smoke was spreading fast and it was moving against the wind. He had seen how it had risen and enveloped the legs of the giant leviathan when Makeias had fought it.

He moved back a couple of steps more but the smoke was following him and it was getting faster. He was about to make a jump backwards when Makeias suddenly flew out of the smoke right in front of him. Appearing less than two meters away from him. Holding his hands around the end of his spear. Swinging it against Tatsumi as if it was a golf club. Tatsumi brought up his own weapon to block but the strike had all of Makeias's momentum and strength behind it. The hit sent Tatsmui gliding almost ten meters backwards. His feet digging up bricks and stone as he drove them into the street to stop himself. But when he finally came to a halt, the smoke had engulfed Makeias again. Hiding his position.

Tatsumi understood Makeias's tactic. He knew that Tatsumi would avoid the smoke so he used it as cover in order to make these big, clumsy and incredible strong swings. Attacks that Tatsumi would easily be able to predict and avoid, if he could see them. But now he would only be able to see them the moment before they hit him.

He needed to get rid of the smoke as soon as possible. When the black cloud once again got close to him he raised his weapon behind him. Intending to swing it to create an wave of air in an attempt to repel the smoke that way. But as he was about to swing, Makeias flew out of the smoke to the left of him. He passed Tatsumi and then swung at his back. Tatsumi had no chance to block the attack since he had taken a stance to swing the smoke away.

The side of Makeias spear hit him in the back but did not pierce his armor. It was strong though. It sent Tatsumi flying forward into the smoke. When he landed on the hard pavement he immediately rose up. He couldn't see a thing.

His first instinct was to just jump away in some direction. Out of the smoke. But he stopped himself as he realized something. Makeias had jumped out of the smoke just before the attack. So Makeias was clearly able to see through this smoke in some way. Which meant that it was wiser to take a defensive position than just move around aimlessly.

He raised his weapon and tried to detect any incoming attacks. But he couldn't feel any. After a little while, he heard Makeias voice on his left side.

"You never looked like a traitor to me, Tatsumi." the voice said calmly. Tatsumi quickly turned around to the voice but he still couldn't see anything.

"I always thought that you were a bit too simple minded to be able to play the sly game that I now realize that you have been playing."

Tatsumi was unsure if he should try to attack in the direction of the voice. It didn't seem like a good move. Then again, most of his alternatives looked rather bleak at the moment.

"Not that I care but you have pretty much betrayed Esdese at this point. So in a sense, you really are a traitor."

Tatsumi took a risk and striked towards the direction of the voice. But the moment he moved in it's direction, Makeias attacked him from the other side.

* * *

Wave watched in horror from the bridge of the fleet's flagship as his crew ran around under him and reloaded the weapons and saw to it as everything was proceeding as planned. There were a couple of officers standing with him on the bridge and Kurome was standing two steps behind him. Relatively unfazed by the situation.

The small fleet had been struck with a bit of chaos when the giant creature had risen up from the sea beside them. It's ascension from the depths had knocked one of the imperial frigates over and made two other ships crash into each other. But they were now starting the get the situation under control. The two ships that collided had been helped back to a sustainable condition and small boats had been sent out to help the crew of the ship that had fallen over. Now order had returned to the fleet.

Not that Wave had given much attention to the problems of his fleet. The horrifying view of the city's port held all his attention.

The situation at the port had more or less become what he had predicted that it would. It looked like a scene out of a nightmare. The fire burning bright behind the people that were fleeing down into the water. The water so dark with blood that you couldnt see a feet down into it. The port and beach were so crowded that people couldn't move around much. Panic was widespread.

At the north side of the city, people were trying to get up from the water but they were being pushed down by the crowd that were pushing and moving to get away from the slaughter behind them. The imperial force had cornered the north side and were driving the crowd down into the water. Thousands of people were trampling and pushing each other down under the water as they tried to get away from the soldiers that were killing those in the back.

The waters close to the city were filled with so many bodies that you had to push them away in order to swim anywhere. The imperial frigates had deployed many small boats with archers and riflemen that were shooting down anyone that managed to swim too far from the coast. Causing the people in the water to flee towards the beach. Only to be trampled down by those fleeing down into the water.

The south side of the port wasn't much better. That was were most of the boats had departed from. Some filled with families and people fleeing, some filled with old people and children and some were just driven by boat owners trying to get away. It made little difference. Most of the ships had been shot down and sunk as soon as they got close to the blockade.

The remains of the ships and their passengers were now slowly being washed up against the beach again. Some few survivors clinging to the burning wood and ship remnants. Most were immediately pushed down into the water when they reached the port again as other people wanted to use the wood as boats and rafts to get out from the city. Even if most of them had seen what had happened to the boats. They still preferred those chances as opposed to what was happening behind them. And of course those rafts were shot down and sunk as well. The wood and people blown to bits by the imperial artillery. The scraps slowly washing up to the shore again. There to be grabbed by new people. And the process was repeated. The pieces of wood getting smaller and bloodier everytime. Most people were just clinging to planks as they swam out at this point.

Wave watched it all with gritted teeth. He was at the end of his strength. His tolerance for cruelty and violence had since long been passed and he now only repressed himself by pure power of will. He tried to think of Kurome. How sweet her hug had been and how happy she had been when he told her that he would try to endure this. He tried to think about her smell and her beautiful eyes. But it didn't help anymore.

He watched as a mother tried to hold on to her unconscious daughter as she swam back to the shore. Using a piece of wood to stay afloat. Only to be shot in the back by one of the imperial riflemen. Mother and daughter were both pushed of the plank and into the water as soon as they reached the crowd that was slowly being pushed down into the water. Other people starting to fight over the piece of wood. He watched how a man of the city watch desperatly tried to organize a distribution of the rafts evenly. Only to be thrown up into the air as one of the artillery strikes landed near him. His lifeless body landing twenty meters out in the water.

"This is fucking insane..." Wave whispered. None of the officers around him heard him but Kurome did. She had been watching him closely during the entire evening. Not bothered with what was happening in the city. She had just been afraid that Wave would do something that would get him executed. And now her fear was rising.

Wave straightened up a bit. Looking out over the bombarding fleer. His fleet. "Enough." he said a little bit louder. "Did you not hear me?"

Some of the officers stopped with what they were doing and looked at his back. He was about to shout out when he felt two slender hands grab his arm. He looked over to find Kurome standing beside him, looking him in the eyes.

"Don't. Please don't." she pleaded in a whisper. Her eyes were scared and her hands held on to him desperately.

Wave smiled at her sadly. It hurt a lot but he already knew what he had to do. He raised up his other hand and stroked the side of her face. "I'm sorry." he said silently and Kurome's eyes widened.

Then he turned around and took a step away from her. His arm moving out of her grip. Kurome stood and looked at his back. Still holding her arms out in front of her. Tears were filling her eyes. She would not allow this to happen. Her arm went down and grabbed her sword. She would not let Wave leave her. She would not lose him like she had lost Akame. She would not allow it. She would make him stay with her. Forever.

She bent down slightly and got ready to strike.

Wave took a step forward and filled his lungs with air. But at the last moment, he stopped himself.

_Ahh, what a hell_, he thought. _If I am gonna die, I might as well do it without regrets._

He turned around and before Kurome had time to process what was happening, he had embraced her. Pressing her close as he kissed her on the lips. Determinately looking into Kurome's suprised eyes. Showing her how deep his feelings actually were. After some moments he moved away. Before Kurome could properly answer to his advance. He looked at her, smiling and only now did Kurome realize that there were tears in Wave's eyes as well.

"Thank you for everything, Kurome. I love you."

With those words he let her go and turned around. Leaving her standing shocked behind him. Still trying to process everything emotionally.

"ALL HANDS CEASE FIRE!" Wave roared at the top of his lungs. Loud enough for everyone on the ship to hear him. "ALL HANDS CEASE FIRE!" he repeated. He had never felt so sure about an order in his entire life.

"But, sir." one of the officers behind him said. "Esdese's orders were-"

"Esdese is not the one who supervises this fleet. I am. Are you disobeying a direct order from you superior, soldier?" Wave asked the man loudly.

"No. Of course not, sir."

"Signal all the oher ships to cease fire. We are withdrawing. Raise the anchors and set a course for open waters. Immediately." Wave ordered harshly. Making the officer run away to comply. The other leaders of the small fleet looked unsure and unconvinced. Some of them saw this as nothing short of treason.

"I will take full responsibility for these actions." Wave explained loudly. "You lot don't have to worry about anything but following orders." he called out to the rest of the officers that were staring at him.

As soon as he said that, a single officer behind him drew his gun. He aimed his weapon at Wave's back but as he was about to fire, Kurome's swords stabbed him right through the chest. The gun fired but missed Wave with a couple of meters. Wave turned around quickly to see Kurome standing over the now slain officer. Holding her drawn sword by her side.

She looked kind of shocked herself. She hadn't decided about what to do yet when she saw the officer draw his gun. She had just reacted by instinct. Protecting Wave just as she had done so many times before. She had struck down the officer almost by reflex. But now that bridge was crossed and she had little choice in what road to take next.

Wave gave her the warmest smile she had seen for days and nodded to her. She returned the motion. Her eyes still wide from shock. Everything was going so fast.

Wave turned around and looked out over the ship. "THIS FLEET IS WITHDRAWING FROM GARU! LET ITS PEOPLE FLEE!"

* * *

Leone and Isamu had almost defeated half of the men Tom-Tom had brought with him into the city when Akame arrived at where they were fighting.

Akame leaped of the roof of a building and landed between Leone and Isamu. Attempting to cut down one of their tall and slender opponents as she did but her target avoided her attack by jumping to the side.

Leone smiled at her friend as she rose up. "Haven't seen you in a while."

Akame returned the smile. "I'm so happy to see that you look so healthy. I was afraid that you would be much worse off after all that time in the torture chambers."

"Hmph, don't underestimate Lionelle's abilities!" Leone said and puffed up her chest.

Akame nodded. She looked around. "Your opponents seems to be pretty fast." Akame said and looked at the men that were surrounding them.

"They are quite tenacious." Leone said and followed her gaze. "Fighting them is a troublesome business. Since you can't give them any openings. We haven't even been able to reach their leader." Leone went on and pointed towards Tom-Tom who was standing a bit away from the battle. Leaning on his staff. His eyes following everything they did.

"Never mind that. We need to retreat from this city. Quickly." Akame said.

"But what about Najenda?" Leone asked.

Akame didn't have time to answer as one of the buildings at the side of the street that they were standing on suddenly collapsed loudly. Falling down on the street as the dust rose up. Esdese flew through the dust and landed on the street. Right behind them. On the opposite side of where Tom-Tom was standing.

Esdese slowly rose up. Holding her weapon by her side. "Well, look what we have here." she called out loudly with a smile. "My lost little kitty."

Leone scowled at Esdese. Her expression much darker and more humorless than usual. She still hadn't slept an entire night without dreaming horrible dreams about her time in the torture chambers.

"I was a bit annoyed when you ran away." Esdese continued. "I will make you apologize for that a hundred times over, little kitty."

Her tone of voice and foreboding smile made shivers run down Leone's spine. Her instincts were telling her to submit at once. The more bestial part of her brain had been molded by Esdese's "training". But Leone quickly supressed her instincts. "Come and get it, ice bitch!"

"Ohh I will." Esdese said and slowly started to walk towards them. "I will."

"We can't take on Esdese and these people all at once." Akame said silently to Leone. "We need to retreat. Now."

"But what about Najenda?" Leone repeated. Her eyes not leaving the great general.

"Najenda gave me specific orders to escape from Esdese. That will be impossible as long as we stay in the city. We need to withdraw. Najenda can handle herself."

Leone felt a bit uncertain. She had seen the fight up on the creature and it hadn't been a too reassuring sight. But Akame had a point. Orders were orders. And Najenda had Tatsumi with her. Now wearing that strange armor.

"Ok, so how do we do this?" Leone asked as Esdese got closer. The ring of Tom-Tom's men closing in around them.

"I have an idea." Akame said.

Esdese walked closer to them. Satisfied that her entire plan for catching night raid had paid off. "By the way, little kitty. I believe you have something that belongs to me."

Leone only glared at her in response.

"A certain powerful weapon that you have stolen. Where is it?"

Leone caught on to what Esdese was talking about. "Incursio belonged to Tatsumi. Not you."

"Ohh but you are mistaken, little kitty." Esdese said. Now getting dangerously close. "Tatsumi belongs to me. You stole from him and therefore you stole from me. My sweet little mate was really sad after that." Esdese took a deep breath as her smile widened. "I am going to make you hurt so, so very much for that."

Leone shrunk away unconsciously. Her instinct's still traumatized by what she had suffered at Esdese's hands. But her mind was still defiant. "Too bad for you. I don't have it anymore."

"Where is it?" Esdese asked. Her voice a bit harder.

"Why don't you ask Tatsumi? Last time I saw it, he was wearing it."

That made Esdese stop. She looked at Leone for some moments and then her eyes turned to Tom-Tom who was standing on the other side of the group.

"Where is Tatsumi?" she called out in a demanding tone.

Tom-Tom looked at her some moments then he answered in his slow and raspy voice. "He is on the other side of the dead monster. Fighting general Makeias."

* * *

Tatsumi was running out of energy. He needed to end this quickly.

The battle with Makeias had already drawn out for far too long. And things had slowly started to turn in favour of the imperial general. As Tatsumi had known that they would do if he didn't finish it quickly. He was still faster than Makeias but only slightly. Makeias had managed to block his spear everytime but he had still taken a lot of punches and kicks. But he didn't slow down. He seemed to just shrug off hits and wounds that would incapacitate most men. Tatsumi could guess that it was related to Makeias' teigu but he was still unsure about to what extent Makeias teigu affected the general. Tatsumi knew little of Morbus.

They were moving around down in one of the streets beside the giant dead body. Still fighting close to Najenda, who still hadn't moved since she rolled down from the beast. There was fire and smoke all around them but not any other people.

Tatsumi had taken quite a beating himself. Makeias's black fog had given the general a couple of nasty hits on him. None that had managed to get through Incursio but Tatsumi had still taken some damage. And unlike Makeias, Tatsumi could feel how he was starting to slow down.

They were both now moving around too fast for the black fog to keep up with them. Makeias's trick no longer useful. He had abondoned that plan among with many others during this fight. He was only using one of his spears. The other one was lying on the street some meters away from them. He had grabbed Tatsumi a couple of times but had not been able to hold on long enough to use Morbus to immobilize him. Incursio was still protecting Tatsumi from the corruption of Morbus. For now. Makeias was confident that he would get through soon enough. And Tatsumi had started to realize the same thing.

They jumped back and forth across the street for a while. At one moment one of them pursuing the other and in the next one retreating backwards. But Tatsumi was searching for the right chance. He needed a moment when Makeias was pinned and stationary. Tatsumi still hadn't shown just how much force he could put in his swings. Not being able to do so since Makeias was too fast. So if Tatsumi could get the right opportunity, then he might be able to overpower the general by mere suprise. At least if Makeias believed that he had been using all of his powers all along.

But he needed to do it soon. Since Makeias was gaining more and more ground by the second. But luckily for Tatsumi, the chance came before he had lost all his energy.

Makeias had noticed that he had the upper hand and chose to give the younger boy a chance to step back from his actions. Mainly because he didn't want to kill him. Tatsumi was still one of his most important pieces. Even if he didn't know it himself.

Makeias stopped for some seconds as Tatsumi jumped backward in the wake of their last engagement. He looked at the boy. "Stop this folly, Tatsumi." he called out loudly.

Tatsumi halted himself. He looked at Makeias as he went on. "Deactivate Incursio. Lay it down on the ground and I promise you that I will act as if this never happened. There is still time for you to correct this foolish mistake."

Tatsumi recognized that it was a good offer. Probably his best chance as well. Since he was losing this fight. And all it would require, was that he abandoned Najenda and let one of his friends die again.

"And tell me Makeias, what will happen to Night raid?"

Makeias gave him no smiles or jokes. "They will die. All of them."

Tatsumi crouched down into a fighting position again.

"You are only dooming yourself with this, Tatsumi." Makeias said loudly. Frowning as Tatsumi prepared to resume the fight. "Night raid will die. With or without your involvement. Maybe tonight, maybe in a week or maybe in a year. But they will all die. They are on a side that has already lost in a war that leaves no prisoners."

"And I am to take your word that you will simply ignore all you have just seen?" Tatsumi mocked.

Makeias put his fist against his chest. "I am a soldier, Tatsumi. The only thing that is constant to a soldier is loyalty. I think you can at least understand that, as a fellow soldier."

Tatsumi lowered his weapon slightly and straightened up a little bit.

Makeias smiled faintly at him. "I am loyal to my ideals. I keep my word." he said and reached out with an open hand towards Tatsumi. "Let's stop this. None of us stand to gain anything from this fight."

Tatsumi looked at the general and slowly walked up to him. Raising his own hand in respons. "You know what, Makeias. As stupid as it may sound, I actually believe you. I really think that you have your own strange sense of honour. Most soldiers and military leaders seem to possess one."

Makeias smile widened and he reached out a bit further with his hand. Tatsumi was now only three meters away from him.

"But you forget one thing, general." Tatsumi said. His smile under the helmet was almost apologetic. "I am not a soldier. I am an assassin."

And then Tatsumi vanished. Makeias eyes widened in surprise as Tatsumi simply disappeared right in front of him. He had never heard about Incusrio's invisibility. But he could still feel that Tatsumi was somewhere in front of him.

He quickly leaped backwards and filled his lungs with air. If Tatsumi was going to disappear from vision then he would make Tatsum unable to see him as well. He would summon the black smoke again. But before he got time to do that, the one of his spears that were lying on the ground suddenly flew at him. He deflected it with the spear he was holding but it flew into his general's coat. Sending him flying into the wall of the house behind him. The blade pinning him there for less than two seconds.

But that was all the time that Tatsumi needed.

He appeared some meters above the general. Descending at him extremely fast. Swinging his spear down at Makeias with all his strength. Putting all his hopes into this attack.

"Uoooooooooooooooh!" he shouted as he brought forth all the energy he had left.

But Makeias was still fast enough. He brought up the spear he was holding in his hand just in time to block Tatsumi's swing down at him.

The entire world seemed to stand still as their weapons collided. Tatsumi's giant blade halted by Makeias' long and thin spear. Makeias mustering all of his own strength to stop Tatsumi's attack. The two combatants stared at each other as the moment passed.

Then, with a loud "crack" Makeias' spear broke in two. Shattering into many pieces. Tatsumi's giant weapon cut through the wall behind Makeias as it went down and then hit him in the shoulder. Some centimeters from his neck. The sharp metal cut quickly through cloth, flesh and bones. And when Tatsumi's swing came to a halt, his blade had went all the way down to Makeias stomach. Severing his entire chest in two. The blade still stuck into the wall behind Makeias. Having cut through it as well.

Makeias' broken spear fell down to the ground and a silent sigh escaped his mouth as his head slouched forward. The last air escaping his now destroyed lungs.

Tatsumi took a steadying breath. He looked down at his shaking hands as he lightened his grip on his weapon. This had taken a lot of strength from him.

He was about to relax when he heard the silent sound.

"I..."

Tatsumi quickly turned his head up towards Makeias face and found it staring down at him from less than four centimeters away. His eyes were pitch black. Without pupils or whites. Black tears were pouring down his chins and pouring out of his nose. His teeth were black when he spoke.

"I am..."

Tatsumi immediately started to pull back but Makeias' hand reached up and grabbed him.

"I am decay.." Makeias gurgled as Tatsumi tried to get free. "..**INCAAAAARNAAAATEEE!**"

Suddenly the black, thick liquid erupted from all of Makeias' wounds and openings. Spraying out of him as if someone just had opened a container with a lot of pressure within it. Just like a bottle of carbonated liquid which had been moved around too much. Morbus spraying out through his wounds as if from a fire hose.

When Tatsumi finally managed to get free and jumped back, the front of Incursio was black and not white. Totally covered in the liquid of Morbus.

Tatsumi could feel how it started to eat through the armor. How it started to break down Incursio's defenses. His teigu had easily repelled Morbus when it came in smaller quantities. But now it was covered in the liquid and Tatsumi could feel that its resistance was futile.

He tried to rub the liquid off from his arms but it was as sticky as glue. That which he scraped off from his arms immediately got stuck on his hands instead. He could feel that if any of that liquid managed to reach his skin, then it would all be over.

He only had one choice. Incursio's back was still untouched by the corruption. Tatsumi jumped backward and then dismissed Incursio mid-flight. The teigu disappearing into thin air. Leaving a few centimeters between him and the liquid as the armor vanished.

The black liquid fell down on the ground with a wet sound and the sword landed a couple of meters away from it. Tatsumi himself fell over on his back. Having lost all his strength now that he had dismissed Incursio. His momentum made him roll over backward until he was lying on his stomach.

He lay there for some moments and gathered his breath. With great effort he managed to put his elbows on the ground and raise himself slightly.

And then he heard a step. Silent and a bit unsteady. And then a second one. And then a third.

Tatsumi looked up in shock and horror as Makeias walked towards him.

The imperial general looked horrifying. One of his legs and most of his body were coverered in thick black liquid. It still pured out of his mouth and nose and wounds. The tears that poured from his eyes were made of the same liquid. It dripped down on the ground with every step he took. Tatsumi's attack had cleaved his chest in two. The cut had hit Makeias in the shoulder and then moved slightly inwards towards the center of his body. His chest opened up by almost four decimeters down from the shoulder, because of this. Half of his uppper body was hanging loose to the side. But he still walked somewhat upright. Resulting in that the hand on the side that Tatsumi had severed almost dragged in the ground as he walked. Hovering a few centimeters above his feet. Due to the fact that half his chest was swinging loosely at his side.

Yet his steps were determined if a bit unsteady. And his gaze was firm. He was holding his other spear in the hand that wasn't hanging by the ground. Having torn it out from the wall as Tatsumi struggled with Morbus. His face was turned to Tatsumi and when he spoke, his voice was a gurgle.

"Now I can understand what Esdese sees in you, Tatsumi." he gurgled slowly. "Your possibility for growth is not strong, it's unbelievable. Now I understand why she wants you. You have the possibility to grow enough to match her."

Makeias was getting close to Tatsumi but he couldn't move much to get away as the general continued. "But I am beyond strength. I am the way of all flesh. I am decay. And few humans can stand against me."

Makeias was now standing over Tatsumi. Looking down at him. Tatsumi meeting his gaze. "Because time will always bring decay." Makeias said. He then turned his face away from Tatsumi and over to Najenda. She was still lying on her stomach over by the creature. "And now the time has come for Najenda. The leader of night raid."

"No.." Tatsumi wheezed as Makeias took a step over towards his friend. But he was literally out of energy. He had already been tired when he fused with Incursio. That had given him a boost but now he couldn't even get up anymore.

He felt despair bubbling up inside of him. Was he going to fail again? Would he have to watch his friend die again? Panic ruled Tatsumi's mind when an all too familiar feeling washed over him. A presence he knew all to well made itself known. Proud and strong. She rarely hid her presence in battle.

Makeias perceptive instincts were heavily reduced in his current state but even he could feel it. He turned his head to the side and there stood Esdese. Ten meters away from him. Holding her sword in one hand and the other one hanging by her side. She was looking at the scene in front of her. A bit unsure of what was going on.

Makeias horrifying appearance was enough to even make her raise her eyebrows. Even if she was more surprised than appalled. But most of her attention was on Tatsumi. She had really been looking forward to seeing him wielding all the power that she had felt all the way from the other part of the city. But now she could see that he had been defeated. And there was only one there that could have done that.

Her eyes narrowed as they returned to Makeias. The other general meeting her gaze with his black eyes.

Tatsumi himself had already reached his conclusion. He knew what he needed to do. He would take away Esdese's hestiation. He would not give Makeias a chance to explain. Makeias might have thought that killing Najenda would be a mercy. Giving her a quick death instead of a drawn out one in the torture chambers. But Tatsumi didn't care. If Najenda was in the torture chambers then he could save her from there. As he had done with Leone. There was still hope. Just as long as Makeias didn't kill Najenda now.

He raised himself up on his arms as much as he could. Shaking heavily as he did. He looked at Esdese and her eyes returned to him when he moved. He tried to look like he was fighting and struggling. He knew that Esdese found few things in this world cuter than him when he was strained and defiant. He called out to her. Trying to sound as pleading as he could.

"Help me, Esdese! He is going to kill me!"

* * *

**Author's note:**

**Now that was a long delay! Almost two weeks too late. The reason is simple. Two days after the last chapter was released, my laptop was stolen. It was an old machine, not anything fancy. So it was not a big economic loss. Nor did I lose any parts of this story since I have all that saved online.**

**However, I did lose almost two months worth of work on a project that I am a part of. So I have been forced to redirect a LOT of my time to recreate that which was lost. Since it's deadline is in July. Which has slowed down all other aspects of my life.**

**I am starting to get things back in order, though. So the next chapter will be released in 10 days. Hopefully.**

**Once again, thanks for reading. I have recieved questions about what has been going on and worries from people that want to see more of this story. And every single one of those words have egged me on and motivated me to keep up the pace. So thanks a lot. There is no greater reward for a writer than knowing that her/his story has managed to engage it's readers.**

**Until next time, take care of each other.**


	23. Between life and death

**A little bit later than planned, despite this being a shorter chapter.**

**But I am starting to get things back under control. Finally.**

* * *

**Between life and death.**

Makeias barely managed to deflect Esdese's first swing at him. He had been suprised when Tatsumi first attacked him after he had summoned Incursio. Unprepared for the younger man's incredible strong and quick growth. But he knew how fast and strong Esdese was. He was a bit more prepared. In mind if not in body. When he had sparred with Esdese before, he had learned that while she was much stronger than him, he was about as fast as her.

Or rather, he had been. His body was more damaged than it had ever been before. The remains of his lungs and chest were spasming heavily. Instinctively trying to draw air into him. Unable to do so. Also making his throat contract and tighten violently. Not that he needed air anymore. Now he was completly relying on Morbus to keep him alive. It was now the only thing that kept him from immediately blacking out. But the spasming and contractions made it harder for him to move. And the excruciating pain didn't make it easier to focus.

He deflected the first attack and then jumped back quickly. Parrying her next attack as she followed him. Both of them moving past where Najenda and Tatsumi were lying on the ground. Ten meters from each other. The two generals moving past them. But Makeias had just barely been able to match her in their earlier match. And now he couldn't use one of his arms and his speed was severly reduced. This would not be a long fight. And they both knew it.

Esdese pressed her attack without mercy. Not giving the other general the slightest chance to catch his breath or slither his way out of this one. Her face an image of wrath and anger. She had had enough of the pillager. All of her small annoyances with the man had bubbled up into her when it became clear to her that he had tried to kill Tatsumi. She now remembered all the reasons why she disliked Makeias. All of her anger at him waking up when she heard her partner call out for help. She was not smiling or playing around in this fight. Only focusing on bringing Makeias down. She simply would not tolerate the pillager to exist any longer.

By the fourth attack it was clear to Makeias that he would be unable to block one of her swings pretty soon. He pushed back a bit faster with one of his legs. Sending himself spinning backwards as he moved away from her. His arm and almost half his chest swinging out from him as his massive wound created a tornado of the black liquid from the spinning. Sending the corrupting fluid flying away from him in all directions.

But Esdese simply swung her arm in the air in front of her and suddenly all the liquid heading for her froze. The frozen droplets of Morbus harmlessly bouncing of her as she approached Makeias at breakneck speed.

Makeias continued to move backwards but not fast enough. She caught up with him quickly and they once again started to swing at each other. Makeias retreating and Esdese following. Makeias was racing for solution in his head. He was unsure of how he would be able to get away from Esdese when he was like this. And he knew that he probably couldn't win this fight. He had one trick that he had prepared especially for her but he didn't want to use that right now. He wanted to save it until he could use it to destroy her. Not spend it just to get away.

But he soon realized that he didn't have a choice.

He blocked one of her kicks with his still functioning arm but was forced to move backwards in order to avoid the swing of her sword. But he wasn't fast enough. His body was heavily unbalanced because of his injuries.

"Hah!" Esdese exclaimed with a smile as the top of her sword sliced through his throat. Cutting through half of his neck. Making black liquid spew out from the new wound. Esdese smiled with satisfaction as Makeias slowly started to fall backwards.

Makeias's vision was getting darker. For some moments his sight disappeared entirely as his mind tried to understand what had just happened. For some moments he wondered if she had cut off his head entirely. He didn't understand what was going on. But he could feel it.

He had been close to death many times before but never like this. He could feel how the grim reaper breathed down his neck. It was getting hard for him to control his body.

_Is this it?_ Makeias thought. _Is this where it will end? _

Despair and panick started to fill him. Had he come this far just to be killed by Esdese? After all his work, planning and sacrifices. Was it still just going to end like this. Was he just going to become another name in the long list of Esdese's kills. Fear and desperation grabbed hold of his entire being. And from deep within his desperation, Morbus answered.

Just as he was about to fall backwards, one of his legs moved back and stopped his fall. Esdese's eyes widened and she jumped a bit backwards. She had been sure that it was over.

Makeias straigthened up slightly. His head swaying around as he did.

_There is too much left for me to do!_

It was hard for him to control his body but he wasn't fading away. At least not for now.

Esdese looked at him with a smile. "You're really tenacious. It would probably be fun to torture you." she said as Makeias tried to gather himself. "But I think not. This city will be your grave, pillager."

Makeias had a hard time speaking. Since his throat was open. He was almost completly covered in the liquid of Morbus. Looking like somone had poured a barrel of oil over him. It poured down on the ground around him. He knew that he probably wouldn't survive another attack from Esdese. He needed to get away.

Black smoke shot out of all Makeias's wounds. Expanding so fast and violently in all directions that Esdese was engulfed in it just after some seconds. But she wasn''t bothered. She simply held her breath and closed her eyes. Focusing all of her attention on her perceptive instincts.

She could feel where the pillager was almost immediately but when she did, her expression became filled with fury.

She turned around quickly and swung her sword through the air with all her might. Using both of her hands. Her swing was so strong that it created a gust that blew most of the smoke away from her. Returning her vision to her. And when she opened her eyes she was met with the scene that she had already detected.

Makeias had backed away and moved around her. Now he was standing beside Tatsumi. The one of his legs that wasn't drenched in Morbus was placed on Tatsumi's back. He held his spear down against Tatsumi's throat.

Esdese looked at Tatsumi who met her gaze with uncertain eyes. She tried to send him a reassuring gaze but it didn't get across since her face still held anger.

She turned her eyes to Makeias. "That was a mistake." she said coldly to him.

Makeias words was almost inaudible as he spoke. His voice a gurgling growl.

"For all... the things... you know about pain... Esdese.. I still don't think... that you understand despair."

Esdese didn't answer. Her instincts on absolute edge. Her eyes glued to his still funtioning arm as she slowly took another steep forward. Makeias made her stop her advancement by stomping down a bit harder on Tatsumi's back.

"I know... that you have suffered... before... but I don't think... you know... what despair... is... now stand down... or I will show you.. what I mean..." Makeias gurgled. His head barely staying in place.

Esdese looked at him for some seconds. Then she straigthened up and took a step backwards. Makeias opened his mouth to speak but Esdese interrupted him.

"Mahapadma!"

Makeias stumbled a step forward as Tatsumi suddely wasn't under his foot. He straightened up and suddenly Esdese was standing three meters closer to him than she had been a moment ago. It took him a heartbeat to realize that she was holding Tatsumi in one of her arms. Pressing his weak body against her side. She had her weapon sheated along her back.

Makeias looked at her with an empty expression. Understanding what she had just done. She grinned at him. Her smile sadistic and triumphant. Then she slowly raised her free hand and showed it to him. In it she was holding a small knife. It looked black and almost rustic.

_NO!_

Makeias dropped the spear and reached up with his hand and grabbed the middle of his body, just under his chest. It wasn't there. He looked up at her again.

She was holding the knife that had been stuck into his chest for almost three years. The knife that an assassin had stabbed him with. Not realizing what it was. She was holding the weapon that had given him the powers of Morbus.

Makeias eyes were wide in shock as he fell down on his knees. His still functioning arm falling down beside him. Esdese dropped the knife down on the ground in front of her. Tatsumi smiled at Makeias in a sad and apologetic way.

Makeias was completly terrified as he searched inside of himself for Morbus. Internally calling for the power of the teigu.

...

...

...

And Morbus answered.

Makeias couldn't help but smile as one of his oldest theories was confirmed. He had never dared to test it himself, since he thought he could die if he removed the knife from his body. But now he knew.

His teigu didn't take the form of a weapon. Morbus, the all corrupting infection, wasn't a dagger. The teigu itself was a disease. It had just resided in the knife when he was stabbed with it. Now it had moved from it and lived inside of his body. Integrated into him in the same way as Esdese's teigu was with her.

But that only made his situation marginally better. He only had one choice now.

Esdese's and Tatsumi's smiles both lessened as Makeias raised his open hand in the direction of Tatsumi.

Everyone was silent for a second.

"Fall!" Makeias ordered and closed his hand. Activating one of his oldest tricks.

"Gaah!" Tatsumi suddenly shouted in pain and grabbed his right hand. Esdese turned her face to him in confusion. Unsure of what was going on.

Makeias slowly rose up. Still holding his hand in Tatsumi's direction as he awoke the infection he had placed in his hand the first time that they shook hands. During that first meeting they had in private so long ago. This was his trick against Esdese. This was the weakness he had found. Tatsumi. He had wished to save this until he could use it to give himself a chance to destroy her. But he was out of option at the moment.

Tatsumi pulled back the cloth over his arm and he and Esdese's looked in horror as the veins in Tatsumi's hand were slowly turning black. They could see how it moved up from his hand and started to crawl in all directions. Moving up into his arm.

Esdese turned her furious gaze to Makeias but was met with black, rage-filled eyes. Makeias using his arm to hold his head in place.

"I HATE YOU!" Makeias screamed. Sounding more lika a beast than a man with all the gurgeling and growling. "I HAVE ALWAYS HATED YOU! EVER SINCE YOU DESTROYED ANY CHANCE WE HAD TO FIND PEACE IN THE NORTH WITH YOUR GODDAM GENOCIDE!"

Makeias's facade was gone. His true feelings laid bare. "BUT NOW YOU WILL STAND DOWN! OR I WILL TEACH YOU ABOUT LOSS IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE!"

Esdese looked at him for a second and then turned over to Tatsumi. She grabbed his arm with a cold expression on her face. She started to draw her sword with her other hand.

Tatsumi immediately realized what she was gonna do. "Don't" he shouted and grabbed her wrist. He bent over his arm. Putting his body in the way.

"Get out of the way, Tatsumi!" Esdese exclaimed and pulled his arm to the side. Swinging his entire body after it. But Tatsumi still held on to her wrist with his healthy arm. Making it very difficul to manage a clean cut without damaging both his arms. Esdese was getting desperate. She needed to cut off his arm before the infection spread to his body. She pulled his arm away from him again but the result was the same.

"Tatsumi!" she said in a hard and demanding voice. A painfilled expression on her face. She really didn't want to do this but she had to. There were few acts in this world that were less appealing to her than reducing his beautiful strength and potential. Lessening his chances to grow strong enough to match her. But if it stood between that or loosing him entirely then she would cut off his limb any day. She knew several cripples that were still respectable fighters. Najenda was a good example. And Esdese would take whatever she could get when it came to Tatsumi.

Tatsumi didn't answer her. He stood hunched over his arm with his back towards her. Holding on to her wrist.

Esdese raised her sword behind his back. Intending to render him unconscious with a hit to the neck with it's hilt.

But due to the fact that Tatsumi was holding on to one of her arms, he could feel when the attack was coming. He managed to shift his body enough to make the strike miss it's intended spot. Instead hitting him in the back.

The hit was strong and made Tatsumi grunt in pain. Esdese clenched her teeth. She had not felt this uncomfortable about anything for as long as she could remember. "Let go Tatsumi. It is the only way!"

"No it isn't!" Tatsumi protested. Clinging to her wrist.

"What then?" she demanded in a stressed and irritated voice.

He turned his head to the side slightly and looked at her. "Give me some time."

"Fine." Esdese said angrily.

She lightly tapped into the power of her teigu and froze Tatsumi's entire arm. All the way up to the shoulder. Tatsumi wheezed from the extremly agonizing sensation. But both he and Esdese could see how the blackness stopped spreading inside of his now frozen arm.

"This is only prolonging the inevitable, Tatsumi." Esdese said harshly. "The arm has to go."

"No it doesn't." he said and looked at her in defiance. Daring to move away from his arm for some moments. "Incursio can repell Morbus. It has done so before."

Esdese gestured with the arm that was holding the sword in the direction where Incursio was lying on the ground. Ice spikes shot out of the ground under it. Sending the sword flying towards them. Tatsumi caught it with his free hand.

"I need more energy to summon it effectively. Keep my arm frozen until I have regained some power." he said and looked at her.

"This is foolish Tatsumi. What if it doesn't work? Would you risk your entire life just for that arm?"

"It will work! Trust me." Tatsumi said in desperate defiance.

Esdese slowly shook her head while she looked at him. "I don't like this idea. It's too risky."

"Liar." Tatsumi said. "Then why haven't you just closed the hand that is holding my arm? You could easily crush it to pieces now that it is frozen."

"There are few ways of amputation that are less safe than that." Esdese answered. "A clean cut and then freezing the stump is better."

"You want this to work just as much as I do." Tatsumi stated. Holding up Incursio.

"My wishes are not relevant when determining the safest option."

Tatsumi and Esdese stared at each other for a while. No one saying a word. Then Tatsumi slowly let go off her wrist.

"I trust you, Esdese. So please trust me." he said and looked up at her. "It will work."

Esdese looked at him for a second and then sighed. Once again he had used her own affection to manipulate the situation. She couldn't mutilate him after he so clearly stated that he trusted her not to do it. Especially when he removed his hand and gave her free passage to do so. Now she simply couldn't. Not when Tatsumi wanted to put his bets on something that was likely to work. It would damage what they had together too much.

"If I see the slightest sign that you are getting worse in any way, then I am taking the arm. Even if I have to break it to splinters."

Tatsumi smiled faintly at her. "It will work!" he repeated.

Esdese let go off his arm. Moving her hand around his back. Steadying him up with it. Only then did she realize that she had forgotten something. She immediately shifted her gaze from him to the area around them but it was already too late.

Tatsumi followed her gaze and understood what she was searching for but he was nowhere to be seen. The pillager was gone.

"Tchh" Esdese clicked angrily with her tongue. "A weasel to the very end."

"Can you sense him somewhere nearby?" Tatsumi asked. His own perceptive instincts muddled by the pain and exhuastion.

"No, he has fled away." she said with irriation. "But it doesn't matter. I will hunt him to the end of the world for this."

"Could you take me to a medical tent or something?"" Tatsumi asked. "I need something to boost my energy so I can summon Incursio properly."

"Of course." Esdese said. "I just need to check something first." She slowly laid him down on the ground. Being very gentle and careful with his frozen arm. "Don't try to move it around. Just stay as still as possible." she ordered in a kind voice. Then she rose up and turned around. Walking over to the giant beast, where Najenda was still lying on her stomach.

Tatsumi took a deep breath. This would probably be a bit ugly. He knew that Esdese was going to play around with Najenda a lot. But it was still preferable to the fate Makeias would have given her. Even if he was sure that both Makeias and Najenda would disagree. But they didn't know what he did. They didn't know that he was the one that had freed Leone from the torture chambers.

He had done it once. He could do it again, Tatsumi concluded as Esdese walked over to Najenda. Her sword drawn. She put her foot under Najenda's shoulder and flipped her body over so that she was laying on her back instead. Esdese was silent for some moments.

"How boring. She has already been dead for a while."

Tatsumi could almost feel how his heart skipped a beat at those words. He slowly turned his head to look at Najenda. Holding his breath.

Najenda looked really peaceful. Her eye was closed and her mouth shut. Her head leaning slightly to the side. Yet Tatsumi could immediately see that Esdese was right. Najenda was very pale. Unnaturally so. Her chest was still and her body didn't react to anything in the slightest.

Esdese looked down at the body. Her expression was hard to read.

"Despite all your high ideals and noble goals, you still just end up like this. Food for the crows. Now your body will rot here. In a couple of months, it will be hard to recognize who you once were. And in fifteen years, no one will remember who you even was or what you were trying to do. While I will continue to enjoy myself and destroy your dream. Because I was stronger than you. I was always stronger than you. And now you are just another body for the piles. My victory in our vendetta is complete."

Esdese sighed. She trailed the tip of her sword over Najenda's face, absentmindedly. Cutting through the pale skin.

"Yet this still feels utterly disappointing." Esdese said. Bitterness creeping into her voice. "I had so many ideas. So many plans for you. Yet now your end just became so.. so.. boring."

Tatsumi had to look away as Esdese let the tip of her sword pierce Najenda's remaining eye. Destroying it utterly. "I wanted to take your other eye from you long before you died." Esdese said. In a strange way, she sounded sad. "They called you my rival yet you died before I even got a chance to properly fight you again."

Esdese stood there silently for some seconds and then bit of irritation crept into her face.

"Weakling." she said lowly and shoved her sword down through the remains of Najenda's eye. Piercing her entire head. She then drew her sword up and swung it through the air before sheating it, making the blood fly off it with the swing. She gave Najenda one last look and then turned around. Leaving her old enemy to become a part of the past. Letting the crows and insects have her body.

She walked up to Tatsumi. She took Incursio which was hanging loosely from his hand and then wrapped her arms under his body. Starting to lift him up.

She didn't notice how one of his hands clawed and scraped the earth as he was being lifted.

_No, _he protested in his head. Too devestated to even speak. _Just leave me here... please... Just let it end..._

He looked at Najenda with tearfilled eyes over Esdese's shoulder.

_This is where I should be... please... I belong with them... Just let me lie down and die beside them... please..._

Esdese herself was unaware of Tatsumi's thoughts and despair. Her own mood being rather dark at the moment as well. Not realizing how cruel this moment was for Tatsumi. But it wouldn't have made any diffrence to the situation if she knew. She would not him go. He belonged to her.

She bent down slightly and then jumped up in the air, over some houses. Leaving the scene behind them both.

* * *

On a hill in the woods outside of the city, the remains of night raid were meeting with the other agents that had escaped the city. They could see the whole city from where they were standing. The fire and smoke still rising from within the walls.

"Is this everyone that escaped?" Leone asked grimly. The group they were meeting consisted of less than fifteen people.

"We are not certain." a young officer from the revolutionary army answered. "There were many of us that ran for it when the wall fell. It was very chaotic. There might be others that haven't made it to this meet-up place yet. We should wait and see if more people come here within an hour or so."

"No." Akame said silently. "The imperial army will have noticed that the blockade is broken now. Esdese have some of the best hunters in the world in her service. They will start moving out of the city soon. Searching for us. We can not stay here unless we are prepared to fight again."

"There is also the question of what has happened with the forces that surrounded the city." the officer said. "Even if our beast from the sea scared some of them to flee, most were still holding the formation around the city. Yet now they are nowhere to be seen."

"Yeah." Isamu said. He was standing a bit in the background but was still participating in the discussion. "We had a strange experience in the city as well. They seemed to be withdrawing."

Akame and Leone knew what he was talking about. The situation had looked very grim for them when they were cornered between Esdese and Tom-Tom's men. But then Tom-Tom had revealed to Esdese that Tatsumi and Makeias were fighting each other. After that Esdese had stayed long enough to be certain that the members of night raid wouldn't be able to escape Tom-Tom until she returned. When she was sure of that, she immediately left.

And it had seemed like they would still be there when she returned. While Tom-Tom's men would probably never beat anyone of the three night raid members, they could still prevent their escape. Since their agility and extremly well developed instincts made it almost impossible to rush a fight against them. Since you couldn't give them any openings.

So for a while it seemed like they would have to fight Makeias's personal guards for almost an hour before they could kill them all. But strangely enough, they didn't have to.

Just a couple of minutes after Esdese had left them, Tom-Tom had suddenly shifted his head up towards the sky. Then he had knocked his staff into the ground once and quickly moved away from the premise. Jumping up on the rooftops. His gray robes swaying behind him. And as soon as he was gone, his men slowly started to move away. Running away three at a time. Until they had all fled from the night raid members. Leaving them free to escape the city and move to the meet-up point.

"The forces might just be waiting for us a bit further away." the officer said with worry.

Akame was not so convinced. "I think we can assume that they have left this area. It seems like there is a schism within the forces that Esdese brought here."

"The big question is Najenda." Leone said and looked at the officer. "Have you heard anything from her yet?"

The officer shook his head. "Not a word from her or her group after they engaged the pillager."

Leone sighed. "So first Najenda fights the pillager, then Tatsumi attacks the pillager, then all three of them disappear from our sight and lastly Esdese goes away to find them." she said and shook her head. "I do not like the sound of it. Not one bit."

Akame suddenly remembered the letter that Najenda had given her when they had met down in the city. She had said that it contained directions of what to do after she had brought down Esdese's steed. She picked up the letter from her pocket and walked a bit away from the group to read it.

"Then should we wait a bit longer until we are certain of what is going on." the officer said.

"A bad idea." Isamu objected. "The city is almost completly burned down. The army will start to move out from it soon."

"We have no clear course of action without Najenda." the officer said. "We have no straight chain of command without her. She is the one with the most contact with the leaders of the revolutionary army."

Akame read through the letter while the others kept discussing the situation behind her. When she had read it through, she looked out over the city. The hill was high, so she could see most of Garu from there. She could see where Esdese's steed had crash landed. Destroying a couple of houses as it did. She could see where the wall around the city had been breached by the leviathan. It's body now lying in the ruins of houses. She could see the port. Where small rafts and boats had started to escape. The imperial fleet had for some reason moved away from the city. Now being far off in the distance.

She took a steadying breath and calmed herself. Taking full control of her feelings. Supressing them. She lifted the letter a bit and then opened her hand. Letting the wind grab the paper and carry it away. She looked at the letter as the wind blew it towards the sea.

She swallowed hard. _Goodbye._

She turned around and walked back to the group.

"Since we don't know if she is dead or not we have to assume that the command-" the officer was saying when Akame interrupted him.

"Najenda is not coming back."

Silence followed that statement. Most eyes glued to Akame. Leone was the first one to say anything.

"Are you sure?" she asked silently.

Akame nodded soberly. "Najenda is not coming back." she repeated.

The group was silent for another five seconds until the officer spoke up. "Is this it then? Is this the end of of night raid as a group?"

"No." Akame said determinately."Night raid will survive this."

"With two members?" the officer questioned. "That is folly. It's better to disband the group so that you can serve the revolutionary army separately."

"Three members." Isamu said silently.

"Night raid will not be disbanded." Akame said sternly. "This group still has a purpose to fulfill. And we now have one more reason to do so."

Leone nodded. A hard expression on her face. Isamu smiled encouragingly.

"So what now then?" the officer asked. "The leader of our organization is gone. We have no clear directive of what to do."

Akame once again took the initiative. "We will reorganize with the revolutionary army. Night raid will recruit some new members immediately. We already have some candidates."

The officer nodded. "Who should I tell the military leaders to contact when handing out missions? Who will be your leader."

Leone put a hand on Akame's shoulder. "I think that just became pretty obvious." she said and looked at Akame with a sad smile.

Akame looked at her friend with a sad but thankful expression. Isamu stood a bit behind them. Trying to be as supportive as he could, even if he still was an outsider to these people. Akame turned her head to the officer.

"Let's move out. Esdese's hunters will soon come running after us."

The officer nodded and the group started to move out. They walked through the last of the night. Until the sun started to rise again. No words were spoken.

* * *

Tom-Tom and his men had waited in the forest for almost four hours when he finally reached them.

He walked out of the bushes slowly. One of his hands now almost touching the grass. The men around Tom-Tom backed away in fear from the horrifying appearance of the pillager. The grass withering with his steps. No one moved towards him until Tom-Tom spoke up.

"Move, you dolts! Help your leader!" he shouted.

Finally the men around him started to move to the destroyed form of Makeias. But it was still Tom-Tom's own tribesmen that reached him first. Rushing to his aid as soon as the initial shock wore off. They grabbed the general with careful hands as he slowly collapsed.

"Bandage his body together." Tom-Tom commanded as he came up to Makeias's side. "Put his parts back where they should be. Morbus will keep him alive."

The giant men gently put Makeias down on the grass as some of the soldiers ran to fetch some bandages.

"Tom-Tom..." Makeias said weakly when they had put his head back into it's normal position.

"Yes, general?" Tom-Tom said and kneeled down at Makeias's side.

"Where are our forces?"

"The army has demobilized and scattered. Just as we had planned. Thousands of small units are now awaiting our command." Tom-Tom reassured. They had all known that this day would come. They had prepared for it. But Makeias appearance worried Tom-Tom. He had seen Makeias get his chest pierced by a spear and he had watched how the general had gotten his throat slit from behind. But he had never seen the other man this damaged. Even Tom-Tom was suprised to see his friend walking around.

"Sorry for asking this Makeias, but will you survive this?" Tom-Tom asked silently. Afraid of the answer.

He thought that Makeias's eyes shifted towards him but it was hard to tell. His eyes were black and he couldn't move his head in any direction.

"I am not sure that I am alive anymore." Makeias said and Tom-Tom could hear the fear that was hidden in his voice. Makeias noticed that Tom-Tom had detected his fear and tried to reassure his friend. "Don't worry, I am still here. Even if my flesh is ruined I am not fading. Not yet."

Tom-Tom nodded. Makeias was unable to mimick the gesture. His still functioning arm came up and grabbed Tom-Tom's.

"Send the message to Kai in the main encapment." he ordered.

"What message, sir?" Tom-Tom asked. He knew what Makeias was reffering to but he needed to confirm it. There could be no mistakes now.

Even in his destroyed state, Makeias was still able to smile. "The time has finally come. Tell him to unleash the wolves."

Tom-Tom returned his smile. "So our hour is here. At long last."

"Let Kai know. Let the officers know. Let the world know. Leave nothing but ashes."

* * *

The sun slowly rose over the blue sea. There was not a cloud to be seen on the blue sky. It looked like it was going to be a great day.

Kurome was standing in the front part of the small fleet's flagship. Looking out over the vast ocean as the men around her worked and went on with their duties. Wave was resting, down under deck. But Kurome couldn't sleep yet. Her mind still hadn't recovered from what had happened during the night. She was still trying to process what this all meant in the long run.

She stood there for a long while as the fleet slowly moved towards it's new destination. When the sun had risen fully, Kurome spotted a single piece of paper which was drifting with the wind. Being carried ten meters above the waves. It passed in front of their ship and then continued it's journey out towards the sea. Kurome looked at it as it flew away from them. Slowly disappearing from her sight. She wondered what it was. After a little while it was too far away for her to see it anymore.

The letter danced upon the wind. Fluttering back and forth. It's message momentarily visible every now and then.

_**"To Akame.**_

_**I am writing this as a precaution. It might not be necessary but I am the leader and the leader needs to prepare for everything.**_

_**I am most likely not going to survive a fight with the pillager.**_

_**I know some of the abilities of Morbus. My best chance to bring down the general will be to somehow set him on fire. But it will be hard to do and if I take one heavy hit from him, then it will be over. My chances of surviving this are slim at best.**_

_**But that is fine. As long as I can give you and the others a chance to escape.**_

**_Night raid must not fall. Even if the revolutionary movement's chances are gone, night raid must live on. For as it is right now, we are the only ones capable of bringing down the rule of the prime minister and Esdese. If they fall, then there will be a hope._**

**_As long as night raid exists, there is still hope._**

**_As long as you live, there is still hope._**

**_Which is why I am writing this letter._**

**_Akame._**

**_When I am gone you will be the leader of night raid. I trust your instincts more than my own. Let them guide you and the rest will solve itself. I leave my dream to you. I believe that you can succeed where I failed. I am confident that, even if many of my decisions might turn out to be mistakes, this one will not._**

**_Lastly I would like to let you know that it was an honor to fight this battle with you as my friends. I could not have asked for better subordinates. I am sorry for leaving everything to you. I had hoped that I would be able to walk this road with you guys for little while longer but this is now the only choice that remains to me._**

**_Know that even if I am leaving this terrifying task to you, I still wish nothing but happiness for all of you._**

**_Your friend. _****_Now and forever._**

**_Najenda"_**

The letter flew high over the sea. Drifting off into the blue sky.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**There we go. The last of the three "Between" chapters. ****This concludes the Garu arc.**** Four chapters of build-up then followed by three chapters of action, violence, death and heroism. Now we have had the introduction arc, the great general arc and the Garu arc. Next chapter will start the prime minister arc.**

**I wonder if anyone had realized that Makeias placed some of Morbus in Tatsumi's hand all the way back in chapter 3. It was very obvious that he was doing something back then. But the trick was that the abilities of Makeias's teigu only was revealed a couple chapters later. So if you reread it you immediately realize that Makeias infected Tatsumi at that moment. But when you read it for the first time it is harder to understand what was going on.**

**And hey, this story now have 300 followers! Even though it is an ultimately meaningsless number, I still feel the need to express some gratitude for reading and follwing this story, Thank you.**

**The next one will come in about 10 days. Hopefully.**

**Take care of each other until then.**

**(Short edit: I don't like to talk about the specifics of this story in author's notes but after the previous chapter I have recieved quite a lot of complaints about how Morbus seems to be too overpowered. And after releasing this chapter, I realize that it might emphazise that impression. So I will just say this, while Morbus is meant to be a very flexible tool , it is not amongst the most powerful teigus out there. It's offensive abilities were outmatched by Incursio. It's control over others are far less potent than, for example, Yatsufusa (Kurome's teigu). It does make Makeias very tenacious but his defeat is almost guaranteed against opponents like Akame or Esdese. It is only steel that has a hard time killing him. ****It is fused to his body but I will remind you of something that has been touched on briefly in earlier chapters. Morbus doesn't give you powers. It trades them to you.)**


	24. Before the plunge

**Late. Once again.**

* * *

**Before the plunge.**

Esdese and Tatsumi were alone in the damp and cold prison cell. Between them stood the untouched tray of food that Esdese had made for Tatsumi in hope of charming him. But he refused to both eat and talk. Not willing to give her anything. Shutting her out completly.

Esdese had been shocked to learn that he was a part of night raid. But now that she had gotten some time to think about it, it wasn't that strange. It wasn't unreasonable to think that others would be able to see his potential. So she should have expected that if he eventually went through with his stupid little idea, then he would be moved to the top of the revolutionary army. Sooner or later.

She looked at him. Studying his face as he doggedly stared down at his knees.

It had been a harder pill to swallow that some other girl had already laid her hands upon him. She didn't know why but she had never even considered the possibility that Tatsumi might get claimed by someone else. It hadn't even entered her mind. The concept seemed so otherworldly to her.

But it didn't matter. He was hers. She would take back what belonged to her and then she would find out who this weasel was. And then she would find her.

But first she needed to get Tatsumi back on her side. At almost any cost.

Neither of them had said anything in a long while. Tatsumi was sitting on his knees in a humble pose. Esdese was a bit more relaxed in her posture. Leaning on one of her hands. She reached out with a leg and slowly stroked her boot against the side of his knee. But he gave her no response. Stubbornly staring at his knees.

Esdese had spent many hours thinking about this situation. Her usual ways of dealing with problems would not work here. This challenge was unique. She was going to make Tatsumi hers again one way or another. The problem was that she needed to do so without making him dislike her. She needed him to admit that he was hers. Otherwise she would be unable to save him from the execution.

She could probably break him with torture and make him say whatever she told him to. But she strongly disliked that idea. She wanted his affection and love. Not his fear and detest. And should she travel down that rode, she would probably have to ruin his beautiful potential. Damaging the bud before it had gotten a chance to bloom.

But it didn't matter. Tatsumi's execution was scheduled for the next day. Esdese knew that he was very tenacious. She would need more than a couple of days to break his will and mind. She could tell with just a glance.

That strength of will and body only made her aching for him stronger. Her heart wanted him so badly. It needed him.

She sighed in a sad way and stroked his thigh with her foot again.

Esdese was a proud creature but she was not afraid to learn. She had asked around among the people around her for advice or tips on how to solve this situation and charm Tatsumi. But it had not helped her much.

Her advisors from the army utterly failed her in this regard. Not really understanding why their leader was so adamant about getting this vigilante. Even more baffled by the fact that said criminal had refused an offer that half of them would have killed for. And they were not even in death row. Most of them concluded that this man must be an fanatic and that their admired general probably was better off without him.

She had talked to some of her aquiantances amongst the torturemasters about the issue as well. But they had not been much better themselves. Not understanding why the best torturer in the land suddenly didn't want to make use of her amazing talent in the area. A few of them had suggested that she should just get it over with and overpower Tatsumi and rape him. But she didn't like that idea either. Not that she didn't want to explore those kind of things with Tatsumi but she wanted his love more than anything. And she had never heard of rape leading into a loving relationship.

She had even visited some of the pleasure districts, trying to learn what kind of tricks the whores used to gather in their customers. But in the end she had learned nothing new there either. She was already aware of her own beauty and seductive body. She already knew that her goods and looks were not enough to win over Tatsumi by themselves. She had hoped that these people had some other tricks. Yet the whoremongers and their lackeys had been just as useless as everyone else.

The problem was that Tatsumi was completely shutting her out. He didn't give her anything. She could very easily break down that door with force, abuse and torture but she knew that wouldn't get her the relationship she craved. He needed to open the door for her. He needed to let her in.

Now she regretted that she hadn't bartered for his friend. Then she could have used him as a bartering chip here. But when the deal was struck she hadn't thought much about the other member of night raid. Not caring anything about Tatsumi's accomplice. Now the man was dead. Killed in his attempt to escape. Not that Tatsumi knew about that yet.

Things had turned out rather nicely for her in that regard. Najenda's lackey had died and he had taken down the prime minister's son while escaping. A man who Esdese had had a grudge with. Ever since he and his annoying group had went after some of the people that she had offered her patronage to, in the form of Bols's family. They had even attacked her underlings. She had wished to make the boy suffer for that but had been unable to do so because of his position. But that problem had solved itself for her.

But it didn't help her situation with Tatsumi.

She reached down and took up the spoon that was lying in the bowl between them. Feeding herself some of the stew that she had made for him. Still keeping her eyes at him as she did. This one had turned out especially good. She had payed a lot of attention when making it for him. Hoping that it would help her woo him. But the effort had been in vain since he wouldn't even touch it.

He wouldn't even look at her.

"I love you." she said silently. Almost a whisper. Hoping for a response. And this time she got one.

"Then leave the empire and join the revolutionary army. This war would be over the moment you did that." he answered in a blank voice.

"Don't think about that right now. All you need to do is to become mine. After that we can hash out all these other issues." she said a bit louder. Trying to lead the discussion in a diffrent direction. But Tatsumi was stubborn.

"Then will you stop fighting and killing at least? The moment you resign from the military and leave your fighting days behind you, I am yours." Tatsumi said. He reasoned that his life was forfeit any way. If he could trade it to Esdese in order to get her to stop fighting then that would be a better trade for his life than he ever could have hoped for.

He looked up at her for the first time in a long while. She was looking at him. Her face empty.

"No." she said. Her voice a bit colder. She could see that there had been some hope in his eyes but this was not an area that she would bend in. "Tatsumi, I have a responsibility to those around me. I have subordinates and subjects that I have promised protection and leadership. I am a general of the empire. I have duties to uphold."

Tatsumi's eyes returned down to his knees. To Esdese's dismay.

_He will never like that. He will always hate the empire_, Esdese thought._ But it doesn't matter. He will be mine!_

Even if it came to the execution, she had an idea. This was Tatsumi she was thinking about. She would consider every little possibility she had.

And she still had one more thing she hadn't tested. One more strategy to try out.

...

Esdese opened her eyes in the small glade she was sitting in. Brought back from her reminiscing by a presence that was approaching her.

It was in the middle of the night and the only thing that lit up the opening in the forest she was sitting ni was the campfire she herself had made. Two long and very sharp sticks of wood were stuck into the ground beside the fire. But apart from that and a small backpack that lay beside her, the glade was empty.

She had been sitting with her back against a tree and thought about the old days while she waited. But now her waiting was done. Her instincts told her that he was returning.

She rose up and dusted off her clothes. Then she turned to the direction he was coming from and put her hands on her hips. Her smile full of expectations.

Tatsumi emerged from the darkness ni front of her. Walking into the light of the fire, carrying a giant black beast over his back. Four times as big as him. He looked slightly tired but not too much so. Esdese gave him an approving nod as he walked up to her.

"I knew you could do it but this was way faster than expected." she said in a happy tone.

Tatsumi dumped the creature down on their side. Next to the fire. "It was much easier than I thought it would be."

Esdese had given him the task of hunting down the alpha male of a very dangerous and very fast pack of beasts that lived in this region. Another test of his newfound strength and abilities.

Esdese glanced down at the beast and raisd an eyebrow as it's chest slowly rose and fell. "You didn't kill it."

"Didn't have to. You only told me to catch it."

"To be honest, I thought you would be forced to kill it." she said and looked him up and down. "Did you get hurt?"

"Nope. Knocked it out before it could react." Tatsumi said and massaged his neck with a hand. "But it was just as stealthy as you said. It was hard to detect even when I knew that it was there."

He looked up from the beast and met her gaze. Ever since they had left Garu, her eyes had looked at him diffrently. There was something else in her gaze and he wasn't sure that he liked it. Now she looked at him less like he was her cute little possesion. Now she looked at him like he was closer to being her equal. Or a little bit closer at least. But the more she regarded him as an equal, the more her competitive sides came forth. Tatsumi had realized this early on. The stronger he got, the stronger her urge to dominate him became. The more she needed to demonstrate that she was stronger. The more she wanted to push him around.

Not that the affection wasn't still there. In some ways it had only grown stronger. It was just that it was now expressed in other, less tender forms as well. Tatsumi feared what would happen if he ever started to get real close to her level of battle proficiency.

Esdese looked at him with pleased eyes. As if he was a prize that she was proud of. "I always knew you could reach these levels Tatsumi." she said. She almost sounded like she was boasting. "I always knew that you were special."

"Thanks, I guess." Tatsumi said silently and let go off his neck. Letting his hand fall down to his side as he met her gaze.

"And do you know what the best part of it is?" she asked as she reached out and grabbed his jaw with her hand. She janked him closer to her face. Making him stumble forward. "I still can't see your limit. One day you might actually be able to match me." She said and stared him in the eyes. It sounded more like a challenge than praise.

He smiled tiredly and gently grabbed the hand that was holding his face. Trying to gently pull it away in an attempt to make the whole situation a bit more sensual. If he tried to pull roughly, her grip would probably just harden. But nonetheless, Esdese's hand did not budge. She was still looking him straight in the eyes.

"I really like how your eyes look now." she stated. "Now they look more fierce, more dangerous, more... defiant." The way she said the last word sounded like a challenge in and of itself.

"You could have just said that I look cool. "

Esdese only smiled at him in response. After some moments she let go of his head. "We should have another sparring match. Soon."

"Spare me." Tatsumi said tiredly.

"Ohh don't worry. I will. But first I will beat you." Esdese said. Her grin was growing a little bit more ravenous and her eyes were smiling at him.

"Don't you remember that last time we fought, you beat me up so badly that I was shedding tears." Tatsumi said. Putting the blame on her in an attempt to avoid another match. The real reasons for his instability during that moment had never translated to Esdese.

"You are stronger now." she reassured him.

"Still not as strong as you, though."

"You are getting closer at an impressive pace."

"What is the point of a match when we both already know how it will end?"

"It will make you stronger, Tatsumi. Your skills adapt and you learn when you fight."

"I think that you just want to beat the crap out of me." Tatsumi said and shot her an accusing look.

Esdese giggled in a dangerous way. "If I only wanted to hurt you then I could just do it right now. Couldn't I?"

Tatsumi looked her straight in the eyes. "Yeah. You could."

Esdese nodded at him. "That is my privilege. I am the only one that can touch you. If anyone else tries to hurt you they will face my wrath."

As if to demonstrate her point, Esdese's right hand came up and cupped the side of his face. Slowly stroking it. "I want to see you fight, Tatsumi. I want to push you to the limit. I want to see your beautiful growth in all it's glory."

Tatsumi looked at her for some moments. "I will not fight you, Esdese."

They both stood still and looked at each other. There was a small power struggle in the moment. It was an open act of defiance from Tatsumi. And Esdese's urge to dominate him was at an all time high. But this specific situation was a bit difficult for her.

Esdese had no way to force Tatsumi to fight her. She could hurt him all she wanted but she couldn't make him summon Incursio and give her all he got if he was determined not to do so. She could probably blackmail him to do it but she wasn't willing to go that far.

"Who do you belong to, Tatsumi?" Esdese asked. Her voice a bit harder even if the smile stayed.

"I belong to you." Tatsumi answered without hesitation.

"Correct. All you have and are belongs to me. So I should be able to have a good fight with you if I so desire."

"I am not just your punching bag, Esdese. You have admitted so yourself."

"I will have what I desire , Tatsumi. Sooner or later."

"Yeah... probably. But in this case it will be later." Tatsumi said and gave her a small smile.

Esdese looked at him for some moments. Then she closed her eyes and shook her head with a sigh. Still smiling. She let go of him. "Go and rest a bit while I make the food." she said and turned towards the fire.

Tatsumi walked over towards the tree where the small backpack was. He jumped a little bit into the air as the beast behind him started screaming. Loud and shrill. He turned around.

Esdese was in the process of cutting into the beast's big hind legs. Working with a piece of ice. She hadn't been bothered with killing the animal before she started to cut out the parts she wanted. The beast screamed and clawed at the grass but didn't get anywhere. Since Esdese had her knee pressed down on the lower part of it's body. Just out of reach for it forearms.

Tatsumi listened to it's screams and whimpers for some moments before his compassion got the upper hand. "You should kill it before you start to butcher it."

"Why?" Esdese asked without turning around.

"It is suffering in vain." Tatsumi said silently. Already knowing her answer.

"And you think that I am not aware?" Esdese asked nonchalantly as she went on with her business.

Tatsumi was well aware that she was enjoying the creature's last moments. "This was a proud and strong hunter. Won't you let it die with some dignity, just out of respect?"

"Animals don't have any dignity, Tatsumi. And I thoroughly enjoy breaking the pride and confidence of the strongest warriors and hunters." Esdese said and pushed down her knee even harder into the beast under her. Making it howl in pain.

Tatsumi tried a harder route. "This was my hunt and my prey. I should have say in how it ends. Kill it. Just listening to those screams is painful."

Esdese turned her head so that she could look at him over her shoulder. Her expression was partly mocking and partly caring.

"Even after all this time and all your growth, you are still such a soft little thing, Tatsumi." She turned her head back and continued to cut into the beast. "We will have to do something about that. Sooner rather than later."

Tatsumi looked at her back for some moments. _I can handle more pain than you think_, he thought. _Doesn't mean that I condone it when it is unecessary._

Esdese was cutting out the flesh that she wanted when Incursio came swirling through the air. The sword hitting the creature in the side of the head. Piercing it. Instantly killing the beast.

Esdese turned her head around and looked at him. But Tatsumi was walking back to the tree with the backpack resting against it. Not facing her. Esdese's eyes narrowed slightly. This was another act of defiance. She felt a strange mix of pride, adoration and irritation well up inside of her as she watched his back. Tatsumi could feel her gaze drilling into his neck but then Esdese simply shook her head again and went back to cutting through the now dead creature.

After she had cut out the pieces she wanted she then rubbed them in some leafs and herbs that she had gathered beside the fire. After that she scewered them on the sticks and put them close to the fire. Cooking the meat.

She walked up to Tatsumi as she wiped the blood from her hands with a piece of clothing. "The meat in the legs of this particular beast is amazing. You're going to love i..."

Esdese halted herself as she noticed that Tatsumi had already dozed off. Resting with his back against the tree. She smiled at him and silently sat down beside him. With her back against the tree as well. She looked at him for some moments before one of her hands came up and grabbed the collar of his shirt. She pulled his shoulders and head down into her lap.

He opened his eyes and looked up at her. A tired expression on his face.

"You have been sleepy ever since we left Garu." Esdese observed as she slowly stroked his head.

"Well, your training has been anything but lax these last days." Tatsumi said with a yawn.

"It has been necessary. As you well know." Esdese said as she continued to look at his eyes.

Directly after the battle of Garu, Esdese had Tatsumi examined by the best doctors and experts her army could offer. They had quickly established that Tatsumi's body now had started to fuse with Incursio. And that offered both pros and cons.

The positive side of things was that Tatsumi was now able to tap into much more of Incursio's capacity. Allowing him to make a huge jump in power. Making him into one of the most powerful warriors in the empire with a single transformation. And he was still growing. It had also made the infection of Morbus almost completly disappear.

But only almost. The downside to the situation had been clear to those that examined Tatsumi pretty quickly. Incursio was tearing at him. Everytime he used the teigu it fused to him more and everytime it did so it damaged him more. However, Tatsumi's own body was pretty strong and resistant to the damages, due to the grueling training Esdese had forced him through during the last two years. So the damage was reduced. But it did still hurt him. And the doctors and experts all agreed that sooner or later it would kill him if nothing changed. Even if it might take a while.

Esdese's solution to this had been simple. She herself had been forced to fight and subdue her own teigu in order to not lose control of herself. Tatsumi simply had to do the same. He simply needed to get strong enough to withstand the damage the teigu gave him. She simply needed to train his endurance. Since the experts told them that Tatsumi's strength helped him handle Incursio.

So when the army had moved away from the ruins of Garu and the military leaders traveled back towards the capital. Esdese had chosen to take a detour together with Tatsumi. Moving through the wilderness. Wishing to both train him and test his new abilities and strength. They had been traveling for three days. Hunting and tracking as they did. They would probably reach the capital the coming day.

Esdese's fingers played around with Tatsumi's hair as she studied his sleepy eyes. Her other hand moved down and grabbed his right hand. She lifted it up and looked at it. It felt warm and soft in her hand. She looked at his palm. Where the black mark under his skin was still visible. Morbus was still in him.

The experts had said that the infection Makeias had given him had basically been rendered impotent. But it was still there. It had not been completely eradicated. But as long as Tatsumi had Incursio near him, Morbus wasn't going to keep growing inside of him. So Tatsumi had to always keep Incursio somewhere near. Otherwise the infection might awaken again.

They had kept that information confidential. Only the two of them new of this. Apart from the doctors. And maybe one more. It was possible that the one that had planted the infection could tell that it was still there.

"Did the previous owner of Incursio ever master it to this level?" Esdese asked him silently.

"No." Tatsumi said and looked up at her. "He was a good warrior, though."

"I would expect so. He was known as the hundred-man slayer after all." Esdese answered.

"He pales in your presence though. You must be up in the hundreds of thousands now." Tatsumi said in an exhausted voice.

"Numbers means little when you reach certain levels. His hundred kills could be much more worthy of praise than the thousands that I buried in the north. Maybe his hundred opponents were more competent than mine. Depends on the people."

Tatsumi looked at her for a little while. "You really are a monster, Esdese."

"Do I scare you that much?" Esdese said with a certain satisfaction.

"Yeah. You do." Tatsumi said truthfully. He feared where their road together would end.

She reached down and snuggled her chin against the top of his head. "No need to be afraid."

They stayed like that for a little while before Esdese spoke again. "What kind of man was he?"

"Well, he was very passionate. Yet he often kept a cool head. He teached me what was what." Tatsumi said and closed his eyes.

"Seems like I have him to thank for you still being alive then." Esdese said with a smile.

"You might have liked him if you met him." Tatsumi said as a bit of sadness creeped into his voice. "If you talked to him a little."

"Maybe." Esdese said. "Though I would probably still kill him."

Tatsumi sighed and looked her in the eyes. "You did kill him. Not with your hands but with your orders."

"And he took down two strong warriors as he died. It was a good death." Esdese said indiffrently. "I would not hold any regrets if I died in the same way."

"Esdese.." Tatsumi said. Clenching his teeth in a pained expression. He rose up a little bit in her lap. So that their faces were closer to each other.

"These days has been fun haven't they?" Tatsumi asked in sad voice.

"Yeah. I have really enjoyed our little trip." Esdese said with big smile.

"Then why can't we just keep on doing this then?" Tatsumi asked. Starting the argument they had had a hundred times before. "These days have been fun, right? Why can't we just keep on traveling. Let's explore the wilderness outside of the empire. We can travel the lands and hunt the most dangerous animals in the world. Doesn't that sound fun to you?"

"It does." Esdese admitted. "But it is not going to happen, Tatsumi."

"It can. You can make it happen." Tatsumi said and grabbed one of her hands. If she left the empire it would eventually collapse. Tatsumi was sure of this. Especially now that she was the great general. "You don't owe the empire a thing."

"I don't really believe in the concept of people or nations "deserving" some certain fate or treatment because of their history." Esdese said. "But I am a loyal creature, Tatsumi. And I have promised the empire my services until all it's battles and wars are won."

_Which will never happen with the current imperial court_, Tatsumi thought.

"If you continue like this you will die, Esdese. I know better than most of how ridiculously powerful you are. But if you only live your life fighting then you will die. Some random chance or unlucky suprise will occur. Or you will meet an opponent whose abilities are specialized at fighting yours. If you can only define yourself by fighting, then you will die way sooner than necessary."

"And that is just how it should be." Esdese said in a content voice. "What is the point of living for a few more years if I can't spend that time doing what I want?"

"But you just said that you have enjoyed these last days?"

"I have. But I don't want to live as someone that goes back on her promises. I am loyal."

Tatsumi sighed. He let go off her hand and fell back down into her lap. Giving up the argument. For the moment.

Esdese studied his face for some moments. "I love you." she said tentatively. "I love you a lot."

"Not enough to change your convictions apparently." Tatsumi said sullenly. He looked up at her. "Things would have been so diffrent if you just hadn't joined the imperial military."

"Not between us, it wouldn't." Esdese said and started to stroke his head again. "The military didn't change me into what I am today, Tatsumi. You and I are just very diffrent."

"Yeah. We are."

"I would not love you if you were just the same as me, Tatsumi. That would feel kind of narcisstic."

"If I had been the same as you then you would probably have fought and killed me." Tatsumi said.

Esdese giggled lightly. Then she looked at him. "We will be partners until one of us dies, Tatsumi. And it will be a fulfilling life."

"Ohh I imagine that it will be. For you."

"Don't be like that." Esdese said in a tender voice. "I know that you want to be with me as well."

"I never said that I didn't. You have almost destroyed everything else that I love. When you are gone, I will have nothing left."

_Good. You only need to love me. All your love belongs to me_, Esdese thought. But she didn't say it. This kind of restraint was something her relationship with Tatsumi had taught her. And she only practiced it when she was with him.

"Are you saying that you will be able to survive me?" Esdese said in a more playful voice. "You are far too weak for that. You will have to train a lot more than this."

"I can promise you that I will not survive you, Esdese." Tatsumi said with a smile. Hiding what he he knew was the truth as a joke."Nor do I really want to. You will probably be the one that has to live on alone."

"I can live with that." Esdese said. "Then you will have lived your entire life with me. Your entire existence in this world will have been mine. I prefer that to dying and leaving you alone so that someone else can come and take you."

"And you will just go on with your life. Not letting my death affect you." Tatsumi said. It was partly a question.

"Make no mistake, Tatsumi. When I hold your dead body in my hands, I will know that the best days of my life has passed. All my love will die with you. But I will keep on searching for worthy opponents. Someone capable of matching and defeating me. Leading the empire as I do. And sooner or later I will die. Hoping that there will be an afterlife so that I can find you again."

Tatsumi slowly shook his head with a sad smile. They looked at each other for a long while.

"You are way too strong, Esdese." he said silently.

Esdese smiled down at him. "Yes I am." she said and bent down and kissed him.

* * *

The next day offered a single unexpected event on their journey back to the capital. They were still in the forest. Wandering towards their destination. Having used the stars to decide the correct direction during the night. They were talking to each other when Esdese suddenly halted. Signaling to Tatsumi to stop talking with a gesture with her hand.

"We are being followed." she said lowly and turned around.

Tatsumi looked in the same direction as her. Into the vegetation. After a little while he could feel it as well. There were two people moving in their direction. And they didn't try to hide themselves. Esdese put her arms across each other over her chest. She could already tell who their followers were. She was actually a bit suprised.

After about a minute, their followers moved out from the bushes in front of them. Tatsumi felt his jaw drop slightly as Wave and Kurome appeared before them. Wave was walking first with a grim look on his face. He was still wearing the black long coat that marked him as an admiral. Kurome was wakling a few steps behind him. Her eyes glued to Esdese.

Tatsumi felt panick rise inside of him as Wave walked up to Esdese. He was the only person that Tatsumi knew regarded him as a friend. And this situation did not look good for Wave. When Esdese had learned of Wave's open betrayal she hadn't given much of a reaction. She had actually been pretty calm about it. Almost seeming a bit sorry. Which was not the usual respons insubordination got from her. But Tatsumi still knew that Esdese didn't forgive that kind of behaviour from one of her subordninates. Wave had just walked into his death.

Wave walked up until he and Esdese were just a few meters apart. Both looked at each other. Wave's expression dark and sad and Esdese's indiffrent. After some moments a smile started to spread across her face. And it was not a friendly one.

"So.. my admiral comes walking back to me in the middle of the forest. How did you find us?"

"The fact that you took a diffrent road back to the capital was well known among your troops. Some of the officers even knew the direction. And some of those officers are still unaware of what the fleet did at Garu. After that it was easy. You have not really bothered with covering up your tracks."

Esdese nodded to him. Her arms still crossed over her chest. "I see you are still wearing the long coat I gave you. Even after you have betrayed the duty it signifies."

"To me this coat does not symbolises my duty but the greatest honor that you have ever given me." Wave said as his expression got a bit more melancholic.

Esdese's own face grew a little bit more ridiculing. "You were always a bit of a hothead Wave but I never thought that you were stupid. You know what fate awaits you now. What on earth made you come back to me?"

Wave met her gaze. Unflinching and steady. "Loyalty."

Esdese eyebrows rose a bit as Wave kneeled down in front of her. "You raised me up to a powerful position in the empire. First as a jaeger and then as an admiral. I have survived many fights because of tricks that you have thaught me. There have been many battles in which I would have been killed if you had not been around. I owe you so much, great general. And while I will no longer follow you, I still have my loyalty. I have come to recieve my punishment. That is what I owe you. My life."

"And what about my fleet?" Esdese asked. Her voice foreboding.

"Sorry, great general. The fleet you gave me control over will no longer follow the empire or you. They have their own agenda. My agenda."

"And you are prepared to take full responsibility for that?" Esdese asked.

"Yes, great general!" Wave exclaimed. His gaze directed at his own boots.

"You know who I am Wave. You know what that means."

"I do." Wave answered determintely. "I have accepted the consequences."

"Well then." Esdese said and lowered her arms from her chest. She noted how Kurome reached for her sword. She gave Wave a quick glance but the boy wasn't giving off any hostile intent. Unlike Kurome.

_It's seems like she is still taking her duty as a bodyguard seriously_, Esdese thought. _Even when Wave himself is willing to give up his life._

A part of Esdese wanted to show Kurome what it meant to show hostility to her superior but she supressed the urge for the moment.

Behind her Tatsumi, was panicking internally. Desperately trying to come up with a way to save his friend. The last one he had. But then Esdese suprised everyone in the small gathering.

She knelt down on one knee so that she was on the same level as Wave. "When I first heard about your defection, I guessed that you would try to contact me. One way or another. But I am still suprised that you actually came to bow before me yourself."

She reached down with a hand and grabbed his hair in an iron grip. Turning his face in her direction. "You grew up to be a fine man, Wave. Loyal, strong and brave enough to accept a death by torture. I kind of want to take some credit for you becoming so admirable."

Wave looked at her with somber but resolute eyes. Esdese smiled at his resolve. "But you still haven't reached your limit yet. You still have a little bit more to go."

Wave's face got a shade of confusion. Unsure of where she was going with this.

"And I don't really want to kill you until you have reached that peak."

"So what then?" Wave asked carefully.

Esdese looked at him for some moments. Enjoying the fear in his eyes. "I won't kill you today, Wave."

"You won't?" Wave said with uncertainty.

"No. I won't." she said and let go of his head. "I will give you one more chance to become all that you have the potential for."

Esdese rose up and looked down at him. "Go Wave. Go and get as strong as you can. Keep fighting for your beliefs and we will sooner or later meet again. And when we do, I will kill you."

Everyone was silent after Esdese had finished. Wave slowly rose up and looked at her. He had been sure that today was his last day. "You are letting me go?"

"For the time being. Yeah." Esdese said and moved some of her long hair to the side.

"And you are telling me to go and pursuit my goals. Even if they oppose your rule over the imperial military?" Wave said. His voice full of disbelief.

"Are you going to keep making me repeat myself." Esdese said in a slightly more threatening voice.

"You are telling me to go and get stronger. Even if I am going to be your enemy?"

"I am giving you this chance because you now are my enemy. Believe me Wave, if you can manage to survive being the enemy of the empire, then we will meet again. And then you will die."

Wave rose up slowly. Looking at Esdese as he did. "Thank you" he said after some moments.

"Don't misunderstand the situation here, Wave." Esdese said calmly. Putting her arms across her chest again. "This is not mercy. I only want your ending to be a bit more... gratifying. I will personally see to it that all your subordinates will know that you betrayed them. Those people that I offered patronage to on your behalf will be executed. And I will be taking a look at your group of students. I was unimpressed by them when you showed them up to me, four months ago. I will give them another chance to impress me. And if they fail... well, you know what I can accomplish with the right tools. "

Wave's expression had gotten harder but he did not back off. "If it weren't for you I would have never had any subordinates in the first place. And those students of mine are more capable than you think."

"Maybe. But I doubt that they will be competent enought to impress me."

"Even so. Thank you, Esdese." Wave said and bowed to her. "For everything."

Esdese looked at him for a moment. Her smile wide. "Go."

Wave straightened up and looked at her for some seconds. Then he turned around and started to walk back from where they had came. Moving back to his fleet. Kurome following closely behind him. He was almost about to disappear out from the small clearing that they were standing in when Esdese called out to him again.

"Ohh and one more thing, Wave." she called out.

Wave hadn't expected an attack. He couldn't detect it. So when he turned around to face her he was caught completly off guard.

The single, short and thin ice needle hit him straight in the left eye. Maiming it way beyond recovery.

"HIIHHHAAAAAAAAAA!" Wave screamed out and grabbed his face with his hands as blood gushed out from his eyesocket. Falling down on his knees. Kurome immediately jumped in between him and Esdese. Her sword drawn at her.

Esdese looked at Kurome for some seconds. "Next time, you sharp little girl. Next time." she said in a threatening voice. She looked down at Wave with a satisfied smile. "I don't want you to forget who you belong to. Ever. Everytime you look in a mirror or she looks at you face, it will remind both of you that I am waiting for you. At the end of your road."

Esdese stood there and listened to Wave's whimpers for some moments. Then she turned around and started to walk away in the opposite direction.

She passed Tatsumi and started to leave. Tatsumi himself was looking at Wave and Kurome. His expression filled with pain. When Esdese noticed that he wasn't following him she called out for him without turning around or stopping.

"Tatsumi."

He looked over at her back. "Yeah yeah." he said and turned back to Wave and Kurome. He tried to get some contact with Wave but the other boy was sitting hunched over on his knees. His hands clutched over his face.

"Cover up the eye quickly. You need to stop the blood loss." He said lowly to them. Wave didn't react to his words and Kurome didn't move an inch. Her sword raised in his direction. Tatsumi realized that she was not going to lower her guard until they were gone. He looked at her for some moments. Her own gaze hard.

"Take good care of him." Tatsumi finally said and then turned around and walked after Esdese. Leaving Wave and Kurome behind them.

They walked in silence for almost twenty minutes. Both thinking about the situation. Esdese content with this outcome and Tatsumi once again reminded of how she destroyed everything around her just by existing.

"So... you just decided that you wanted a new Najenda?" Tatsumi asked after a little while. Keeping his voice empty of emotions.

"This was about me wanting to see Wave reach his best before I kill him." Esdese said matter-of-factly. "Anything else would be a waste. I never had any such affection towards Najenda."

"But you just gave him a handicap." Tatsumi said.

"If you are referring to his eye, then yes. I did just give him a disadvantage. I usually kill traitors. I let Najenda get away with just losing an eye and an arm. It would be negligent of me to not hurt Wave in some way for betraying the empire."

"But you still allowed him to get away." Tatsumi said. Happy that she had done so but confused about her reasoning.

"I will meet Wave again. He will oppose the empire and he is strong enough to survive doing so for a while. But this new little faction that he has created poses no real threat to the empire. The revolutionary army is in shambles. All our foreign neighbours have been subdued. Wave could pose a threat if he would be able to ally with the remains of the revolutionary army but they will never trust him. He has destroyed too much of what their movement is about."

Tatsumi looked at her back as she went on. "If I had thought that he would be able to pose a real threat to the empire then I would have ended him here in this forest. But in our current situation I can afford myself some entertainment."

"The imperial court will not like it." Tatsumi said. Thinking about the prime minister.

"The imperial court should consider themselves lucky that I suffer their complaints in the first place." Esdese said. "Besides, don't think that I couldn't tell how relieved you were back then. You didn't want me to kill them either."

"And you feel no regrets about this at all?" Tatsumi asked silently.

"This is how things should be, Tatsumi. I respect and cherish both Wave and Kurome a lot. It is regrettable that the group that I gathered now have been completly dissolved. Just like so many others of those who have followed me. But we simply choose diffrent paths. They couldn't keep following me. They aren't the first ones to give up on that. So they chose the path which they felt that they could live out to the fullest. They announced it loudly and proudly. And they even came back to me to accept their punishments. I will give them a glorious end the next time I see them."

"And you don't think that is sad at all?" Tatsumi questioned.

"I never said that I didn't. I just lost two of my best subordinates. And two of my closest followers. But you can't let regret dictate your life, Tatsumi." Esdese answered.

Tatsumi closed his fists behind her. She was simply too strong. She mourned just like everyone else. She was just too strong to let it affect her in any meaningful way.

Esdese halted herself as Tatsumi's arms closed around her lower chest from behind. His nails digging into her sides. Making her draw a sharp breath.

"Tatsumi?" she asked gently.

"If Makeias is decay, then you are certainly destruction." he whispered into the back of her uniform. "You destroy everything around you."

She put a hand over one of the ones holding her. "Not you. I will do my best to keep you alive."

_And yet you will fail _,he thought_._

"I will endure." Tatsumi swore. "As you destroy everything else, I will endure."

_At least long enough to aim you in the right direction._

They stood like that for some time before they started moving again. They had reached the capital before nightfall.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**A bit late but the delays are growing shorter.**

**I can understand that after the onslaught of fighting and violence that the "between" chapters were, this might seem like a very slow one. But I realized that I needed a chapter between the Garu arc and the prime minister arc. Some things needed to be established. Partly Wave's new stance but mainly Tatsumi and Esdese's diffrent views on life and death. The next arc will start in earnest with the next chapter and it will bring the biggest change to their relation so far.**

**Things will start to ramp up after this. The next chapter will be released in ten days. Hopefully.**

**Thanks A LOT for reading and sticking with this story even during these longer interwalls. **

**Until next time, take care of each other.**


	25. Ripples on the surface

**First chapter in a long while that is delivered on time. Yay.**

* * *

**Ripples on the surface.**

"Thank you both for coming." The prime minister said and drank some of his coffe.

The long table had three occupants. The prime minister himself, general Gallus the warrior priest and great general Esdese. Servants were walking back and forth from the table with small plates filled with diffrent pastries and confectionery. The prime minister had a big mug of coffe in front of him, Esdese a ornate cup of tea and general Gallus a single glass of water.

"No need for thanks." general Gallus answered in his deep and humble voice. He was the largest man in the room. A head taller than the prime minister and just as wide. The only diffrence being that his arms were much thicker than those of the minister. He was wearing his usual black and white attire. The uniform of those working for his religion. His giant war hammer was resting aginst the back of his chair. He didn't touch any of the plates that were placed on the table. Just drinking from his water every now and then. "If the empire needs me then I shall answer."

Esdese simply answered the prime minister with a nod. Reaching for her cup. She was the smallest one of those sitting at the table but still the deadliest of them by far.

The right side of the big white room that they were sitting in was covered in large and tall windows. The morning sun was shining in strongly through them. It looked like it was going to be a fine day.

"It seems like your operation turned out to be somewhat successful, great general." the prime minister said. "Even if we suffered some unfortunate defections during it."

"We always knew that Makeias's true convictions were uncertain." Esdese said. Sounding completely unfazed. "It is better that he revealed his true colors now when the empire is in a stable period. Instead of stabbing us in the back when we are occupied with other threats."

"Agreed." the prime minister said. "Though we did suffer some other betrayals as well. Some people that you yourself had put in some rather delicate positions." he continued.

Esdese looked at him over her cup as she drank from the tea. Considering if that jab at her deserved some retaliation. Gallus spoke before she got a chance to answer.

"The former admiral Wave's betrayal was truly unexpectable. His history speaks of nothing but loyalty." he said in a troubled voice.

Esdese smiled. Even now, she still took some pride in Wave. "Indeed. Loyal." she said. Thinking about how he had searched her up in the forest two weeks prior.

"It is deeply regrettable that he has turned against us. Another fine warrior led astray by the evil in this world." Gallus said. Resting his hands over each other on the table.

"Truly." The prime minister said. "Especially since he took half of the empire's fleet and two teigus with him when he left us."

"Wave's forces is of no concern to us in and of themselves." Esdese said calmly. "We will deal with them as soon as they choose to reveal themselves."

"He is not the only part of the army that you lost during your last operation." the prime minister said and looked at Esdese with stern eyes. "How much of the imperial military did we lose when Makeias's army disappeared.

"Roughly a eight of our complete forces." Esdese answered. "We always knew that this betrayal was coming. He always had his own agenda."

"Not always." Gallus said in a somber voice. "I still remember how he was at his inauguration ceremony. When he first became general. Back then I could see what it was that made Budo promote him. The war changed Makeias. As it does to so many of us."

"At least if you lack a strong resolve." Esdese said.

"Your operation managed to kill one member of night raid. Their leader, admittedly, but the price was way to steep, great general." the prime minister said accusingly and looked at Esdese.

She met his gaze. Looking him straight in the eyes. Welcoming any challenge to her will. Even when it was him. "Are you getting nervous, minister? You almost sound afraid."

The prime minister huffed a bit. "There is a diffrence between being unafraid and making strategically unsound decisions."

"Things are as they should be. I personally prefer to have my enemies in front of me instead of hiding in my own lines. I have no problems about how things have turned out." Esdese said. A smile spreading on her face again.

"And when these problems your decisions have caused comes to our door, what then?" the prime minister said. He was always very careful to not get on Esdese's bad side but he needed to make some things certain. This was not even the big problem that he wanted to speak with her about.

"Then I will crush them." Esdese said and closed her eyes. Leaning back into the chair. "Just as I have done before. Remember our history, old man."

The prime minister smiled. "I will have you know that I am still in my prime. No joke intended." He shook his head. "I guess I will just have to trust that you will be as reliable as always, Esdese."

"I will take care of these problems for you. You have no reason for concern." Esdese said and opened her eyes. "So do me a favor and see to it that your imperial court stops nagging me about it. Otherwise I might statuate an example of what happens when you complain to me just to relieve your own stress."

"I will see to it, great general." the prime minister said. "Wouldn't want you to get distracted from your work." He took a swig of his mug before continuing. "All right. So we have a clear course of actions for when these forces surfaces again and turn against us. That is half the problem." he turned his head to Gallus. "We might need your help with the other half, general."

"Speak, prime minister. If it is for the empire, then I will always serve." General Gallus said in his deep and calm voice. He had stayed silent and watched most of the exchange between the prime minister and the great general. Feeling that those two had diffrent relation to each other than he had to them. But now he spoke up.

The prime minister nodded. "As noble as always general Gallus. The matter of the fact is that we now find ourselves in a battle of attrition. To be frank, I have no real doubts that the great general can handle these rebels when they actually reveal themselves to us. But in the case of Makeias, he probably won't face us until the last minute. Until then, he will be draining our resources from us."

"What do you mean?" Gallus asked and leaned forward a bit.

"The pillager's forces live up to his name." Esdese said and reached for her teacup again.

The prime minister nodded. "The forces of Makeias are higly trained in guerilla warfare. They will avoid us and fight in ways that makes it hard for us to retaliate. The whole army will only assemble when an opportunity arises to do some real damage to us."

"That kind of coordination would require an amazing level of communication and intelligence network. Do we know how they do it?" Gallus asked.

"Not yet." Esdese answered. "We have been able to capture a party of about thirty of them. I have seen to their questioning personally but they did not give us any information about that."

"They were that loyal to the pillager?"Gallus said.

"Loyalty doesn't come into it. I had them in my personal torture chambers for almost ten days. They had forgotten anything about loyalty or duty long before they died." Esdese said. "They simply did not know anything about it."

"Strange." Gallus said and scratched his shiny and hairless head. "So the group itself were unaware of how they recieved their orders?"

"That or we didn't manage to catch all of the members of their unit. But I find that unlikely as well. If some of the members of their group managed to escape us then those we caught would have told me so." Esdese said.

"We will keep researching about the pillager's communication network. But while we do that, we need to stop his army. Ot at least hinder it." the prime minister said as he took a bun from one of the plates. "That is what we need your help with, general Gallus."

Gallus nodded. "Do go on."

"Makeias army have no resources or food reserves backed up. Nor do they have any industry supporting them with new equipment and materials. So this huge force is sustaining itself the same way it did when Makeias forced his way into hostile lands. After his food lines were severed."

Gallus sighed. "Looting, plundering and ransacking."

"Exactly." the prime minister said. "Regrettably. We have not noticed the effects of this yet but it has only been two weeks. I would say that in ten days we will have heard uncountable reports of this from all across the countryside. And in twenty days, the entire empire will feel the effects of it, as it will shake our entire market. Soon food will become more scarce and the prices of most wares will rise drastically."

"Starvation and poverty is already widespread to an unacceptable degree in our dear empire." Gallus said. "I had thought better of Makeias. He always talked about serving the people." He shook his head. "This must stopped."

"Fully agreed." the prime minister said. It was a nice change of pace for him to have someone this powerful to work with who also saw the value in stability. That had always been one of the biggest differences between himself and Esdese. He wanted a certain degree of stability in order to rule effectivly. She would probably prefer complete chaos if it gave her more worthy opponents to fight. The fact that she had let Wave escape was only one example of where the diffrence in their goals showed itself.

He gave her a look and found her staring back at him. She had taken a backseat in this discussion for now.

"We have been hunting and chasing Makeias's forces diligently these last two weks but we have only been able to catch one squad of thirty soldiers. As Esdese mentioned." the prime minister went on and turned his eyes over to Gallus again. "I think you can see the problem. In two weeks we catched thirty of them. When Makeias forces disappeared they were roughly three hundred thousand man strong. If we continue at this pace, the entire empire will have been ransacked before we manage to root out this problem."

"Then we must dedicate more forces to our search. We should also give the bigger towns protection by stationing troops close to them." Gallus said.

"And where do you suppose that we start, Gallus?" Esdese asked. Sounding like she was talking to a child. "Our military is huge, I grant you that. But we don't know where the pillager's forces will strike. And if we are to protect every bigger town in the empire then our forces will be spread out way too thin."

"Do we have any reason to fear that?" Gallus asked in a humble way. "I was under the impression that all of our external threats had been subdued."

"You can crush any single creatures will to rebell with a single hard lesson." Esdese said. "But when you are handling a big mass of people, you have to be a bit more constant in your suppression. The moment our former enemies sees us in a weakened and spread out state. They will be more likely to rise up again. Not saying that they will do so immediately."

"The great general does have a good point." the prime minister said. "However, we will be putting more forces and effort into searching for the pillager. While we can't spread our forces enough to protect all of our citizens, we can at least hunt down our enemies more efficiently."

"So the imperial army will only go on the offence." Gallus said. "I can't say that I am thrilled about this strategy."

"Thrilled or not, you will do as I order you." Esdese said. Her voice a slight bit harder.

"Don't misunderstand me, great general. I am your soldier. I will serve to my end." Gallus said and bowed lightly to her.

Esdese simply nodded to him and drank some more of her tea.

"We do actually have an idea of how to help defend our citizens." the prime minister said. Trying to lessen the tention. "That is the reason why you were summoned here, general Gallus."

Gallus turned his head to the minister.

"General Gallus, you have quite a lot of influence in your religion's organizations, do you not?"

"I do." Gallus admitted.

"We want you to utilize that. Makeias's defection must not result in another revolutionary surge. To put it simply, we want you to use your religion to propagate that Makeias and his forces are the essence of evil. We need our entire nation to understand that his forces only wishes them harm. And it will also help us shift focus from them not being protected. Hopefully we can instill enought hate towards the pillager to make people cheer us on for hunting him down instead of complaining that we aren't protecting them."

"Makeias is not likely to have any goodwill from our citizens either way right now. We just need to add more fuel to that fire." Esdese said.

Gallus held his chin in one of his big hands. Thinking about the situation. "I don't like the idea of using my religion to spread propaganda. But then again, I am here to serve the empire. And I think that few things would damage our people more than new schisms appearing within our population. We need to stay united in our struggle. Otherwise we will fall. As leaders, we need to emphasize that the things that unites us are greater than the things that divides us."

He looked at the prime minister and nodded. "I will spread this message for you. But the moment that Makeias is no longer deemed a relevant threat, I will make it stop. The imperial court should keep the politics out of the faith. I will only make an exception because of our pressed situation."

"For the good of the people." the prime minister said and raised his mug.

Gallus mimicked his gesture with his glass of water. "For the good of the people."

Esdese watched how their political game unfolded. Not terribly interested in participating. She would let things play out and then take care of the situation that their scheming would create.

"Well then, generals, we all have a lot to do." the prime minster said after a while and rose up. "I will leave you to your tasks. Thanks for coming."

Esdese rose up and Gallus bowed to the minister before leaving. Esdese was about to follow him when the prime minister called out to her. "A short moment if you will, great general."

Esdese turned around to him after Gallus had left. "I thought that we had discussed everything before Gallus arrived. Did this not go as you had hoped?"

"It did." The prime minister said. "But there was something more that I wanted to discuss with you in private."

Esdese put one of her hands on her hip and gave him a questioning look.

"There are some parts of Makeias's betrayal that doesn't add up." the prime minister said. "When you found him he had just defeated Tatsumi and the leader of night raid. And according to Tatsumi, Makeias was trying to kill both him and Najenda."

Esdese nodded to him.

"But why would he do that?" the prime minister said. "We both know that Makeias and Tatsumi met many times before the journey to Garu. So why did he attack Tatsumi then? If he had always planned on killing your partner then he had much better opportunities to do so before this operation."

The prime minister was very careful to not sound too accusing. He didn't want Esdese to get defensive. He just wanted to make her suspicious.

"And then there is the question of Incursio. The last time we heard anything about it, night raid had it. Yet when you found him, the teigu was with him and he had already mastered it's power to a new level and also fought against Makeias with it."

"What are you insinuating?"

"Ohh come now, Esdese. You are a smart girl. Can't you see that we are missing some information here? Something more happened between Tatsumi, Makeias and night raid before you arrived. And whatever it was might affect how we should move forward a lot."

Esdese just looked at him for some moments before she spoke. "I have told you to not worry about my subordinates before. I will handle them. You should focus on your own problems."

"I listen to what you say, Esdese. I just want you to... keep an eye open." He considered mentioning that it was her subordinates that had betrayed them but decided to leave it out. He did not want to nurture any ill will that existed between them. "I suspect that we have not yet rooted out all ideas of betrayal from our ranks."

Esdese nodded. Then she simply turned around and walked out of the room. Passing by the group of attendants that were standing outside of it. Waiting for the meeting to be over so that they could go in and clean up. Not being authorized to move into the room while the meeting was taking place. The group fronted by a small boy with white hair and pale eyes. Wearing a big berret over his head. Covering it up down to his eyebrows.

When Esdese had left the room, the prime minister looked out through the windows. He needed to be careful. He had gathered enough evidence to reveal Tatsumi's true colors. Wave had given him a lot of information and he also had a couple of other sources. But now Wave was gone. He thought it would be wise to strike now and not give Tatsumi any more time.

The problem for him was of course Esdese. He could not risk making her his enemy. That would end him. He was well aware of how protective she could be when it came to her partner. He knew that if he just threw all his evidence in her face, there was a risk that she would still take Tatsumi's side just by reflex. If she interpreted the evidence as a external threat to him. He found it unlikely that she would do that but he could not take any risks. He would reveal the evidence against Tatsumi to her slowly. He would make her suspicious of him long before he delivered the final strike. He would make her reach the conclusion herself. He didn't think that it would take too long.

He already had Tatsumi in checkmate. It was time to tighten the noose.

* * *

The sky was grey and the wind was blowing strongly as Wave walked up on the grassy hill. Followed closely by Kurome.

Behind them the sea stretched out as far as the eye could see. His small fleet lay anchored a hundred meters out in the waters. Already preparing to move away. They couldn't stay in a single place for too long. A couple of days at most. Lest they risk that the empire would find out where they were.

As they walked towards the top of the hill, a big owl came flying out of nowhere. It landed on Wave's shoulder. Both of them looked at it in suprise and then both jumped a bit as the owl spoke to them in a loud and squeaky voice.

"Two traitors come. One for compassion and one for love. Both shunned by where they belong." Kurome and Wave looked at each other but before they could react, the big bird took off from Wave's shoulder. It flew up to the top of the hill that they were walking on and landed on the shoulder of Tom-Tom.

Wave and Kurome looked at the tall and slender figure for some moments. None of them had seen him walking up on the hill. He had just simply appeared. After some moments, Wave started to walk up towars him. Kurome followed.

"You suprised me a bit there. We didn't notice that you arrived." Wave called out as he got closer.

"Ohh I have been here for a long while. It is you who just arrived." Tom-Tom said in his low and raspy voice.

Wave decide to not dwell on that weird respons and moved on. "Is he ready for us?"

Tom-Tom nodded. "Follow me, little Wave."

Tom-Tom turned around and started to walk down the hill. To the opposite side of the sea. A forest was stretching out behind it and they slowly walked towards it. After walking for fifteen minutes they had entered the thick forest. And after another ten minutes, both Wave and Kurome had noticed that they were being followed by people on all sides. Not that they could see them directly. The forest was dense. Vines hanged down everywhere and most of the sunlight was blotted out by the trees. When they finally arrived at the meeting spot, it was so dark that a fire had been made in the small clearing.

The clearing was full of people. All standing around the outline of the small glade. Both military pesonal, warriors and Makeias's personal guards. Some small discussions were taking place but they all seized the moment that Tom-Tom walked into the clearing with Wave and Kurome.

As they walked up to the fire, a single figure rose up on the other side of it. Wave's eyes widened slightly at the appearance of Makeias.

Makeias had changed since the last time they met. The first thing Wave noticed was that the man was a lot taller than he had been the last time he saw him. And not by a small margin. Makeias was almost two decimeters taller than he had been before Garu. He had already been a tall man but now he was almost tall enough to reach the shoulders of his guards. He was also a lot thinner than he had been. As if his body mass had simply been stretched out. His hair that had been brown with gray streaks was now completely black. And it looked like it was wet.

He still wore his destroyed general's coat but that was the only piece of clothing from his imperial uniform that he was still wearing. His entire body and arms were completly wrapped in bandages all the way up to his jaw. He had three belts wrapped around his upper body. Two straight around his chest and one over his shoulder to the other half of his chest. Dark marks could vaguely be seen under the white cloth. Especiall at his throat and chest. He was wearing some rather baggy cargo pants but had no clothes on him otherwise. He was barefooted. His feet and his hands were the only parts of his body that wasn't covered complelety in bandages. Apart from his head.

He slowly rose up. His eyes focused on Wave. The few parts of his skin that could be seen were sickeningly pale.

"General." Wave said and walked up to the other side of the fire. Using the man's former rank by reflex. Even if none of them were a part of the military anymore. "You have have been through better days."

"And they are not coming back." Makeias said and looked at Wave. "You as well." Makeias looked Wave up and down. He still wore the black coat that marked him as an admiral. But the biggest diffrence to the boy's appearance was that he carried a piece of black clothing wrapped around his head. Covering up his right eye. Makeias pointed at his own eye.

"By who?"

"Esdese." Wave said with an empty voice.

"Recoverable?"

"I'm afraid not."

Makeias nodded. "My condolences." He pointed at his own throat. A long black spot trailing across it under the bandages. "She gave me a parting gift as well. I could not talk properly for a week."

"She cut off your throat?" Wave said in suprise.

"Yeah. But the worst damage I recieved at Garu was actually caused by Tatsumi. He cleaved my chest in two." he said and gestured to his body.

"And you still managed to survive?" Wave sounded shocked.

"At a cost. Though I am still a bit unsure if I am alive or not."

"What do you mean?" Wave asked.

"You don't need to bother yourself with that, Wave. How are your forces doing?"

"I lost a lot of them when I parted from the empire. But those who stayed have been loyal. The situation has stabilized but it is hard to direct fifteen ships when you are constantly undermanned."

"I could probably give you some men." Makeias said and scratched his chin. "At least enough to man all your ships properly."

"I am grateful for your offer, general. But I can't accept that until I know that we are on the same side in this conflict."

Makeias smiled at Wave. "I guess that it wasn't that hard to realize why I summoned you here. Though I am suprised that you two trust me and mine enough to come walking into out midst alone. Without guards and to a location that I decided on."

"We talked many times before the battle of Garu. I think I got a good grip on your character. I think that even if you for some reason wanted to see me dead, you would still try to first use me to reach your own goals."

Makeias scratched his chin."What about your goals, Wave? You always said that you wanted to stop the suffering in the empire by stopping the conficts within it. That was the reason you gave me as to why you joined the imperial military. Yet now you have created another schism within this huge nation. Ensuring that more conflict is yet to come."

"I realized that you were right all along." Wave said and looked down into the fire. His face filled with bitterness. "We will never see peace with the current imperial court. All sorts of stability that they will achieve will be based on suppression. I had hoped that I could help the empire change from the inside but in the end I was not strong enough to just stand by and watch how it practice it's cruelties. In the end, I didn't have the resilience."

"In all honesty, I don't think that it is entirely healthy to be that jaded to human suffering. You should not regard it as a weakness, Wave. But what will you do now?"

Wave looked up at the other man. "We have been traveling along the shoreline. Stopping plunderers and others who pray on the weak. But it has been hard to do so without attracting too much attention to ourselves. It is hard enough to move around with our fleet without being detected. But the bigger problem is that we actually lack a clear goal or plan. Which is why I was so quick to answer to your message."

Makeias nodded. "It is hard to accomplish much when your entire force is based in the sea. You need to ally yourself to someone."

"There are plenty of rivers that are big enough to allow us to move further into the empire. But doing so without some kind of purpose or land suppport would just be an unnecessary risk." he said and looked Makeias in the eyes. "I have considered talking to the revolutionary army."

"I would advice against it." Makeias said. "You and I have caused way too much damage to the revolutionary movement for them to ever trust us."

"Are you sure about that, general." Wave said. "If you and I could join forces with the revolutionary army then our combined strength would match what the revolutionary movement had behind it in it's prime. And together with night raid, we would have enough teigu's between us to challenge the empire openly."

"I killed night raid's leader back in Garu." Makeias said calmly. Making Wave stop his reasoning. "And if my sources don't fail me, your bodyguard killed another one of their members a long time ago. If you try to join them then you should be prepared to get stabbed in the back. Remember that night raid was created for the purpose of revenge. If that group even survived losing it's leader."

Wave looked at Makeias. His expression a bit sceptical. "But you still want me to join forces with you. Don't you?"

"Yeah." Makeias said with a large smile. "The fact that i revealed my own position to you and that you walked right into my camp with only one bodyguard shows that you and I already have a rather high level of trust between us."

Wave nodded. "And I can't get you to start negotiating with night raid?"

"It is not a choice based on principles. I simply find that risk too big right now."

"He is afraid of Akame." the voice of a little girl suddenly said.

Both Wave and Kurome jumped slightly to the side as they both realized that someone had walked up their side. They hadn't been able to detect her presence at all. Not even Kurome, who reached for her sword by reflex. Beside them stood a small blonde girl. She couldn't be more than fourteen years old. She was wearing what looked like a sack with holes in it for her head and arms. She wore a military helmet that was way to large for her. Her head just filling the center of it.

"Ahh, hello there, Liza." Makeias said. "You returned a bit faster than I had expected."

Liza ignored him and turned to Wave. Pointing her thumb in Makeias's direction. "As you might have figured out, this bastard is pretty hard to kill. But his tricks and abilities means little against Akame. One cut from her teigu and it is bye-bye for the pillager."

Wave just stared at the strange appearance of the little girl before him. Both he and Kurome had already noticed that there was something very strange about the kid beside them. Their instincts warned them of her. But they couldn't see why.

"Wave, Kurome, this is one of my more powerful subordinates. Her name is Liza. Be careful around her. She has a horrible temper." Makeias said and smiled at them. He then turned his head to her. "Did you manage to complete your task?"

"Of course I did. No one will ever hear from them again."

"Did you figure out if they were working together with Kai's other suspects?"

"Not really." Liza said with a shrug. "But it doesn't matter. They are all feeding the crops now."

Makeias frowned at her words. "You were not supposed to kill more than the three names that you were given."

"It is you who always tell us that there is better to be safe than sorry." Liza said. "Now you don't have to worry about insubordination from the other suspects."

Makeias looked at her with irritation. He had a feeling that she had killed those suspects just to spite him. And that was a sour idea to swallow. "Go fetch something to eat. Then head back to the second encampment." he ordered with a nod to the side.

Liza smiled at him in a mocking way and walked off. Confirming Makeias's theory. He looked at the little girl's back as she left. Liza's behaviour had turned even worse after he had taken her brother from her and sent him to the capital before Garu. Her malice was now only matched by her growth. He had always reasoned that the speed of her power growth wasn't an issue since she didn't enjoy violence and cruelty. But that had changed when she lost her brother. Now she might actually be a new Esdese in the making. Even if she was driven more by vengance and pain than joy and pleasure.

Makeias had to remind himself that he still had her brother as an insurance against her. He hadn't allowed Liza to meet Jack after he had been brainwashed and sent to the capital. She didn't know how much was left of her little brother. And that was Makeias main hook on her.

"Entitlement is the first step towards revenge, Wave." he said as the little girl moved out of their sight. "If you think that every single thing in the world has hurt you and wronged you, then all manners of cruelties will seem justifiable. You must never allow yourself to lose that perspective."

Wave simply nodded as Makeias's eyes returned to him.

"Anyway, Wave, lets get down to the real question. I will not join forces with night raid and I advice you not to do so as well. I would however be more than happy to make an alliance with you in order to change the state of the empire and eradictate the revolutionary army. Do you want to join me in this undertaking?"

Wave looked at Makeias. He had come here in order to make this deal but there was something that he needed to check first.

"What is your goal, Makeias?"

Makeias's smile didn't reach his eyes. "That is some very valuable information that you're asking for. We are currently fighting a war in which we are outgunned and outmanned. Giving away such information to the wrong source could mean our end."

"Then how do I know that our ambitions align?" Wave said and met Makeias gaze.

"I can promise you this, Wave. I strive for stability. First we overthrow the warmongering court and the structure they have established, thus destroying the support for night raid and the revolutionary army. If the leadership of the empire is fixed then the revolutionary movement will lose it's purpose. Then we weed out those that are still fighting among them. Aquiring peace in the empire. And then we will destroy all the existing teigus."

"That is quite a hopeful mission statement." Wave said and smiled.

Makeias returned the smile. "Well, a man can dream."

"Just one more thing, Makeias. I need to have a say in how we are going to do this. I can say that I already have certain objections to how your operation works."

"I can promise that I will listen. I can not promise that your objections always will change the plans." Makeias said as he walked around the fire to them.

Wave shrugged. "Well, that is better than most organizations that I have been a part of."

Makeias reached out with an open hand and a smile. Wave looked at him for some moments. Then he returned the smile and grabbed Makeias's hand. "For the people"

Makeias shook his hand. "For the people." he repeated as his smile grew further.

Suddenly Wave's arm winced back slightly by reflex. He would have moved his hand away from Makeias if the other man's grip on him hadn't been so strong. Wave didn't know why but for some reason his body rejected Makeias's touch. As if the other man's touch was damaging him.

A bit of worry crept into Makeias expression. "Is everything all right?"

But before Wave could answer, the strange sensation was gone. Just as quickly as it had begun. He looked at Makeias for some moments. "No sorry. It's nothing."

Makeias nodded and let go of Wave's hand. "Good." he said and gestured to the woods behind him. "Come. Let me give you some insight in how my organization works."

Wave nodded. I am guessing that you already have some sort of scheme going." he said. "Considering how well your forces seem to have coped with leaving the empire."

"I told you before, Wave. There is no such thing as a perfect plan. The world is too chaotic for that. If you want to be prepared then you sould have a plan ready for every possible scenario."

"Yeah. I remember." Wave said.

"However, I have always had a clear goal in mind. For more than three years now actually." Makeias said calmly.

* * *

"This is impossible." Tatsumi complained in a shaky voice. His legs shaking even more.

"Higher." Esdese ordered. Standing right beside him.

"Willpower can only do so much." Tatsumi said as he struggled with the small iron bar on his shoulders. The thin piece of metal weighing far more than most training tools.

"Higher!" Esdese said a bit louder. Her arms crossed over her chest. One of her hands holding Incursio. They were standing in the middle of a training hall. There were a few others in it but most of them tried to act unpertubed by the pair of teigu users that were training in the middle of it.

"Are you even listening to what I am saying?" Tatsumi said as sweat ran down his face.

"HIGHER!" Esdese exclaimed. Actually sounding threatening.

And that was enough to make Tatsumi's instincts give him the last push. With a grunt he managed straighten up and lift the metal bar until his arms were straight.

Esdese smiled. "See. I told you that you could do it. Now hold it like that for-"

Esdese didn't manage to say anything more before Tatsumi collapsed down on his back with a loud "thump". The metal rod landing on his chest. He pushed against it but couldn't get it off him.

"A little help?" he grunted up at Esdese who was looking down at his struggling.

She sighed but when she bent down there was a smile on her face. She grabbed the metal rod with a hand and lifted it from Tatsumi. "Your synchronization with Incursio is off the charts but when it comes to your basic body strength, you still have ways to go." she said as she straightened up.

"If I had Incusrio I could easily lift it." Tatsumi defended.

"If you had Incursio fully activated, you could easily break it." Esdese said. "We are not here to train you with Incursio. Frankly I don't think training you in that regard would make a diffrence. The growth of your power with the teigu even exceeds my own. We are here to train you against Incursio. A good start to that will be to level up your physique a bit."

She threw the piece of metal a bit up into the air and caught it again. She leisurely swung with it in the air a couple of times for old times sake. It was an old tool she had found when she was alone and roamed the north. After she had lost her clan but before she had joined the imperial military. The density of the rod was extreme. Making it heavier than an elephant. She had used it as a tool to fight with for a little while but had then left it for faster ways of fighting.

"Okay, get up. Next we will train your midsection for a bit."

Tatsumi was about to get up when he noticed how a single man walked into the training hall and then immediately left. Only to then enter it again and walking over to the left. That was his signal. His guest was coming.

Tatsumi rolled over so that he was lying on his stomach. "I'm spent, Esdese. I need to rest."

"Nonsense." Esdese said while she looked at the metal in her hand. "You can still go on for quite some time. I can tell."

"Do you ever consider that you might be wrong sometimes?" Tatsumi said down into the floor.

"Of course." she said and poked him in the side with the rod. "I just know that I ain't wrong right now."

"I need some rest."

Esdese put the end of the rod into his back. "Maybe you just need some motivation." she said and started to loosen her grip on the tool. Making it's crushing weight slowly press down on Tatsumi.

"Ok, ok" Tatsumi said immediately. "I will get up." It was meaningless to challenge her in these areas, he knew. If it was for the purpose of training him and make him stronger, Esdese had no qualms about inflicting a lot pain upon him in the process.

Esdese lifted the rod from his back. "See. Just some motivation needed." she said and smiled down at him.

Tatsumi turned around and looked at her with accusing eyes. "Could you at least get me some water."

Esdese shrugged with a smile. "Sure." She threw Incursio to him and then turned around and started to walk over to the locker rooms. "Start doing some stretching."

"Yeah, yeah." Tatsumi said and rose up. He sighed in relief when she left the room. Because just some moments after she had disappeared into the locker rooms, Izou walked through the training hall's main entrance.

Tatsumi turned to Izou as the other man walked up to him. Nobody payed the samurai like warrior any special attention. When he got close to Tatsumi he stopped. Both of them stood still and watched each other without saying a word. Then Tatsumi very slightly bowed down to Izou. The motion so small that it was hard to detect. But the same second he was finished, Izou mimicked the movement.

They looked at each other some moments. Then they both reached down to their blades at lightning speed.

Tatsumi immediately activated the first step of Incursio and turned invisible. He didn't want any of the bystanders to understand what was going on. He jumped to the side of Izou and then came straight at him with his spear. But his opponent could feel where Tatsumi was coming from and jumped to the side as he swung at him. Izou immediately couterattacked and swung his sword in Tatsumi's direction. Forcing the younger man to block the attack and move out from his invisibility.

After that they started to swing at each other in an incredible speed. Tatsumi made sure to stay on the defensive but still push enough to force Izou to take the initiative. Not allowing the fight to slow down. Not that it seemed necessary. Izou was an extremly capable swordsman and Tatsumi could already feel that if he didn't summon Incursio's full ability, he would lose. But just as Tatsumi had hoped, it was not necessary.

As they reached the seventh second of their fight, Esdese attacked Izou from behind.

Izou only barely managed to avoid the swing of Esdese's giant sword by jumping to the side. His eyes were wide in suprise but he didn't have time to say anything before Tatsumi and Esdese pressed the attack together.

The fight was very short after that. Izou didn't stand much chance against a fighter of Esdese's caliber and now he also had to worry about Tatsumi. It was over in less than ten seconds.

Izou was forced to block a swing from Tatsumi's spear from the front when Esdese utilized her superior speed and jumped past his side. Spinning around as soon as she had passed him. And while he was blocking Tatsumi, she swung her sword down towards his feet. Cutting through half of both Izou's ankles with a single swing. Severing his heels.

Izou screamed out as he suddenly lost all the ablity to stand. He raised his sword to strike at Tatsumi as he was falling down on his knees but before he could start the swing, Esdese's hand closed around his own from behind. In less than a second, she froze his hand and then crushed it with her own. Leaving a frozen stump as his sword fell down on the floor.

Izou winced heavily from the pain and then his furious eyes moved to Tatsumi's.

"This is not wh-" was all he had time to yell before Tatsumi kicked him in the throat. Damaging it's vocal folds enough to prevent him from speaking clearly. Izou coughed and spat violently as Tatsumi slowly straightened up.

"Any wounds?" Esdese asked him as she still held on to Izou's handless arm. Lifting him slighty with it.

Tatsumi shook his head.

"What happened here?" she then asked.

"I don't know. Izou just came in here and started to train. Then he suddenly attacked me out of nowhere. If I hadn't aleady had Incursio activated, I would be dead now."

Esdese nodded at him as Izou suddenly started to wheeze and spit loudly. Trying and failing to speak. Esdese looked around in the training hall but all the others that had been there had fled the moment the fighting broke out. As she did that, Tatsumi moved down and pretended to search Izou for other weapons. After some moments, he found what he was looking for. A small piece of paper hidden inside on of his pockets. Tatsumi could almost feel his heart stop but did his best to conceal any reaction.

"You don't have to check him, Tatsumi. He won't leave this room alive." Esdese said and looked down at him. Tatsumi nodded at her.

Then as nimbly as he could, he took the small piece of paper and hid it in his sleeve while it was still in Izou's pocket. He held his breath as he straightened up and moved away from Izou. Esdese's eyes following. She looked at him with a questioning expression. He nodded at her and after some moments she nodded back and turned her attention back to Izou. Her shift in attention filling Tatsumi with relief.

"So..." she called out loudly and grabbed Izou's hair as she turned him around towards her. Lifting him up with her grip. "How do you want to die, former member of Wild hunt?"

Izou tried to speak but the noises he made were impossible to understand. Halfway through he just started to cough.

"You are leaving it to me, I take it. How generous of you." she said and smiled down at him.

Izou's remaining hand slowly moved down and grabbed his sword. Esdese eyes following him. Interested in what he was hoping to accomplish. But then he simply lifted the blade up and offered it to her. Esdese looked at it in suprise for a little while before she took the blade from him.

"I get it. You want the blade that has been your partner to live on." Esdese said and looked at him. Holding his sword in the hand that wasn't holding his hair. She lifted it up and looked at it up and down.

"This is a beautiful weapon." she said and moved the sword around in her hand. "And almost perfectly balanced as well."

Izou nodded the best he could while she was lifting him with her grip on his hair.

"I will admit that it is a bit short in range compared to my current sword but I think I could manage." she said and held the weapon to the side while looking at it. "You know what, if you ask me nicely, then I might actually take this weapon as my own and carry it through all the glorious battles I will participate in."

Izou tried to say something but only hissing came out.

Esdese turned her face to him. Giving him a curious look. "What was that? I can't hear you."

Izou tried to speak again but the results were the same. Coughing and wheezing.

"Do you want me to use this sword as my own?" she asked and looked at him questioningly.

Izou tried to nod but Esdese grip on his hair had tightened. Making it harder for him to move his head.

"I guess you don't want me to bring this sword into new battles, then?" Esdese said and looked at him.

He tried to speak again but to no avail. He mustered all his strength and managed to shake his head.

"No?" Esdese said and looked at him. "You don't want your legacy to continue? Is that what you mean?"

Izou looked at her and finally realized that she was playing with him. She had no intention of letting him have any joy before his death.

A certain hopelessness filled Izou's stern eyes and Esdese realized that the jig was up. A smile spread across her face. Sadistic and threatening.

"Well, a sword without a wielder is pretty useless. Wouldn't you say?"

She struck the sword down into the floor. Then she bent it slightly and stomped down with her heel on it's mid point with all her might. With a loud crack, the black blade shattered into two pieces. One third of it flying away across the floor. The other two thirds of the sword still attached to the handle Esdese was holding.

"Not much balance left in it now, swordmaster." Esdese said and put the blade in front of Izou's face. "Now it is barely comparable to the blades we equip the regular footsoldiers with." Esdese said and studied the man's face as despair and sadness filled it.

"Ohh, did you like this weapon?" Esdese teased cruelly. "How sad. It's time as a serviceable sword is now over."

Tears started to fill the corners of the man's eyes but his expression was still stern. Esdese had planned to make him cry loudly before his end but now a more fitting idea had found it's way into her head.

"If you loved this weapon so much then it is only fitting that you should become one with it." she said.

Suddenly Izou's lower body was sealed in a block of ice. Locking both his arms in place by his sides. Esdese took a step back from him and looked at the now detroyed blade.

"You know, down in the southern parts of the empire, they hold these huge carnivals." Esdese said as she trailed a finger along the side of Izou's broken weapon. "They have entertainers there that are specialized in all diffrent kind of tricks and shows. One group that always amazed me was the sword swallowers." Esdese said as her smile got wider. Her sharp eyes moving down to Izou's.

"I have tried to recreate it with many diffrent people but never really managed to make it work." she said and grabbed his jaw with the hand not holding the sword. "Well, they swallowed their swords, all right, but they did not really live through the process."

Izou's breath got faster as he realized what was about to happen. His eyes moving around frantically. Searching for a rescue.

"But since you really liked your weapon that much, I think it is only fitting that you should become it's sheath."

Izou tried to talk and struggle but the ice crawled up on his back until it had made it impossible for him to move his head around.

"Now," Esdese said as she moved close to him and lifted the sword so that it's broken tip was at his lips. "you don't want to contract your throat in any way, while we do this. So don't try to swallow or cough. Then your throat will squeeze your beloved blade and it will destroy your throat from the inside. So you will have to work strongly against your gagging reflexes or this won't end well. For you."

Esdese's hand took a harder grip on his jawbone and forced his mouth open. "Okay, here is your beloved. Accept all that is left of her." Esdese said and started to insert the blade into his mouth.

Izou managed to hold his dignified demeanor for some moments. But the panick and regret showed through as soon as the ruins of his belowed weapon started to touch the back of his tongue.

Tatsumi watched in silence as Izou started to scream in muffled terror. The man trying to not move too much. His eyes moving around in panick. He listened as the man's screams grew shriller and shriller and watched how Esdese's cheeks grew slightly red and how her smile grew even wider. Showing off all of her sharp and white teeth.

Tatsumi would normally have left earlier but this time he stayed and watched for a while.

_This one is for you, Lubbock. _,he thought._ The one who killed you now pays for it. And soon the empire that led to your end will as well._

He beheld the scene for a little while longer before he turned around and walked over to the locker rooms. Behind him Izou's screams were turning into desperate gurgling sounds.

"I warned you not to do that." Esdese almost shouted in an excited voice. "What kind of sheath refuses it's beloved sword? How useless are you?"

She continued on as Tatsumi walked out of the training hall. He walked over towards his locker and took up the small piece of paper that he had taken from Izou's pocket. He looked at it for some moments.

The letter contained a simple challenge to Izou. Telling him to come and fight Tatsumi in the training hall in a fair and honest duel. In the letter Tatsumi had written that he had wished for a chance to avenge his friend's death and he had ensured Izou that he had explained the situation to the great general and that she had given her consent to their duel. No matter the outcome.

Tatsumi scrumpled up the paper, put it in his mouth, chewed it and swallowed. If Esdese had found that note then everyting would have been over.

He knew that Izou would readily accept the challenge. He was the kind of man that welcomed a good challenges between warriors. So Tatsumi had put a watchout outside of the training hall to signal to him when Izou was arriving. The most dangerous part had been to initiate the fight without Esdese realizing that it was a duel. But he had been lucky and that had worked out smoothly.

Now his friend was avenged. But that was only half of the purpose of Izuo's death.

He walked up to his locker and took off his shirt just as Esdese walked into the room behind him. Unpertubed by the fact that it was the men's locker room. Not that there was anyone there but Tatsumi. She was wiping off the blood that her right hand was covered in on a piece of cloth torn from Izou's attire.

Tatsumi didn't turn around as she walked up to him from behind. She wrapped her long arms around his neck and let her hands move down his body. She put her chin against the side of his head. Her fingers lazily moving across his stomach.

"Sure you didn't take any hits?" she asked

"Positive!" Tatsumi said and snuggled up against her. Trying to be as affectionate as possible without things seeming out of place. Esdese moved her mouth down to his ear.

"What happened here, Tatsumi? Why were you fighting?"

"I honestly have no idea. He just attacked me." Tatsumi was confident that the few onlookers would be unable to really explain how it started.

"You sure about that?" she said and moved her lips closer to him. Tatsumi could basically feel how her lips moved against his ear as she whispered into it. "I don't mind if you just wanted him dead, Tatsumi. He was never one of mine. I have a grudge to settle with all members of their group."

Tatsumi slowly stroked his head up against hers. "He attacked me out of nowhere. Sure, we looked at each other for a while and I will not say that the atmosphere was relaxed in the room. I had a grudge towards him as well. But I did not do anything to provoke an open attack."

"Good riddance then" she said and kissed his ear. It seemed like the torture had gotten her a bit fired up.

"Then why do you think he attacked me?" Tatsumi said as she started to slowly kiss his face. "Do you think he was sent by somebody?"

Esdese snuggled a bit against the side of his head and then put her chin on his shoulder. Thinking about the situation as her hands started to work with Tatsumi's belt.

Tatsumi knew what she was thinking about. Those thoughts and suspicions were the main reason behind this little plan. Esdese was well aware of who Izou had worked for. She knew that if he was ordered to do this, then there was only one place where the orders could have come from.

And even if she was unaware of it, Tatsumi also knew who Izou had worked for. The prime minister.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**Just in time.**

**A rather lengthy chapter this time around. With this we have started our new arc. This one will bring more change to the setting of this story than any of the previous ones. As this chapter gives clues to.**

**I reread the latest part of the manga the other day they and it hit me that the characters in it really have aged through the span of the story. And I don't just mean their personalities but their actual appearances has actually changed. Especially Tatsumi and Esdese. When you look at them in their first chapters of the manga, Tatsumi looks like a boy, not a man, and Esdese's feauters are not as sharp as they are in the newer chapters. Now the two of them actually look like grown ups. They just changed very slowly over the course of the story. Just as the characters in Full metal alchemist; Brotherhood.**

**It feels good to be back on schedule somewhat. Especially in regards to those that follow this story but don't have an account here on the site. ****Regularity means more in that regard since they don't get any notifications about new chapters. And I really don't want to lose any readers.**

**With that being said, the coming week will be very busy for me. I am hoping that I will get the next one ready in 10 day but there is a risk that I won't manage. **

**Well, we live in hope.**

**Have a great day and take care of each other.**


	26. A single crack in the line

**I kinda feel like the white rabbit from Alice in wonderland. Always late.**

* * *

**A single crack in the line.**

The atmosphere was tense in the room. The small training hall was almost completely empty. Without windows or furniture.

It was filled with young fighters and friends. All part of a small training group of about thirty people. They had no idea of why they had been summoned to this hall but they had been told to bring their weapons and be well-rested. The tension was a result of the fact that as soon as all of them had gathered, the doors had been locked behind them. Leaving them unable to escape.

Some of them could guess what was going on but they hoped that they were wrong. But what little hope they had was quickly smashed as the one who had summoned them entered the room.

Esdese pressed the double doors open as she entered the hall and walked into it. She swaggered towards the group of people in front of her. One hand on her hips and her long hair swaying behind her. Her smile was placid and her eyes lightly lidded. She was looking forward this.

The group in front of her shifted all it's focus to her as she approached them. They had met her some times before but this time they knew that things were diffrent. They no longer had their teacher to vouch for them.

Esdese looked at the group. Her eyes wandering from person to person. Constantly met with attentive and somewhat scared eyes. Her smile widened slightly. She could almost taste their fear. She took a couple more steps towards them. Stopping when she was just a couple of meters away from them.

"Good afternoon, special training group number eighty seven." she called out loudly to them. The group backed away from her when she started to speak. "Do you know who I am?"

Many heads in the group nodded but no one spoke up. Esdese watched in amusement as some of them already started grabbing their sheated weapons.

"We have met a couple of times before. When former admiral Wave presented your progress to me." she said and adjusted her cap with her fingers. "I am certain that you are aware of how he has betrayed the empire."

Once again the small group of people in front of her nodded.

"So.. I think you can guess where this is going. " Esdese said loudly and grabbed her sheated sword. "Let's have you show me what you got once more. If you manage to impress me, you migth even live to see tomorow."

No one in the group stepped forward. Everyone was silent. Their eyes moving back and forth among each other. Esdese looked around among the faces and started to tap her foot slowly.

"Come on. Step up." Esdese said in a still relatively soft voice. "I am not known for my patience."

A young man stepped forth.

"Ahh." Esdese exclaimed with a smile. "A brave young man steps forth. Are you confident in your skills, warrior?"

The warrior who stepped forth was still ni his teens and had long brown hair in a ponytail and a sword strapped along his back. He had a serious look on his face but tried to not act too challenging as he looked at Esdese. She herself was beaming at him with a friendly smile. Though everyone in the small training group could feel her true intentions. She made no effort to hide the excited and malicious aura she was emanating. Even if her face was friendly.

The younger man walked up to her until he was just a meter in front of her. He had a problem with where to direct his gaze. He didn't want to look her in the eyes since she might interpret that as a challenge. And he couldn't look down without seeming like he was staring at her ample cleavage. He was also a bit too close for him to look at her boots without looking silly. In the end he choose to met her blue, cold eyes. Trying to sound as humble as he could when he spoke.

"Great general... we had nothing to do with admiral Wave's betrayal. I promise you." he said silently. Some voices behind him mumbled in agreement.

Esdese tilted her head slightly to the side. "Did I ever say that you did?"

"No, great general." the boy answered. "Excuse me if I am being presumptuous, ma'am. But haven't you come here to punish us for just being his students."

"Ohh this has nothing to do with punishment." Esdese explained. Sounding like she was talking to a child. "I don't think you are more prone to defection just because your teacher left."

"Then why are we here?"

"Because your teacher betrayed me." Esdese said. Still smiling kindly at the boy.

"What? Sorry great general. I don't understand."

"I don't blame you for Wave's betrayal. Nor do I think that the risk that any of you will defect has increased notably because of that. You had nothing to do with his decision. But you were his students. And that is why you are going to die here. It's merely a consequence of his defection." Esdese said with the same kind smile as she started to draw her sword. '

Gasps could be heard from the group behind the boy. Even if most had guessed that the situation was dire they had still nurtured some hope. Now they were all reaching for their weapons and taking diffrent stances. Esdese looked over at the group as they hastily got ready to fight.

"There we go!" she called out to them in an encouraging tone. "That's the spirit. You can attack several at once. I don't really care." She returned her gaze to the man in front of her. "You should draw your sword as well, boy."

The boy looked at her. A bitter look at his face. "Great general, there is nothing just or fair about this." he said slowly.

"You should have left those words in kindergarten." Esdese said as she completely drew her sword from it's sheath. "They serve little purpose in the real world. Now, come on. Draw your weapon." The last part sounded like she was goading a dog on.

The young man in front of her looked at her for some moments. "Great general, I think I understand Wave a little bit better now." he finally said and looked her in the eyes. His expression serious.

Esdese could not stop her smile from growing. _It seems like you made some good, brave warriors. My foolish little subordinate_, she thought. _I should have complimented you more when I had the chance._

She was going to enjoy breaking them.

"Come now. A warrior should die with his weapon in his hand." Esdese said and waved at him with a hand. "Who knows? You might even impress me enough to make me take you into my ranks as one of my own. Just stepping up in front of me when no one else dared earns you some points from me."

The boy in front of her took a deep breath and then drew his sword.

* * *

The wind was blowing strongly as Wave and Makeias walked across the deck of the anchored ship. The sky was just as grey as it had been during the last days. No rain had fallen since the grey clouds had started to occupy the sky but they hadn't been able to see the blue for almost a week.

Kurome was standing at the front of the ship. Directing the crew while she kept an eye on Wave and the pillager. She didn't like to leave Wave alone with the other man but understood that she had to. Unlike Wave, she still didn't trust Makeias.

"So... when are we going to strike against the empire?" Wave asked as they slowly walked together.

"When the right time comes. No need to rush." Makeias said. His eyes looking out over the sea.

"I strongly disagree. The longer we remain passive, the longer your forces will have to sustain themselves by terrorizing and pillaging the people. The same people who I want to save from conflicts like this, I might add."

"Easy, Wave. Our time is coming."

"You have to give me more than that, Makeias. The people we both swore to protect are suffering at our own hands. I did not betray the empire to join a faction that is just as cruel."

"The intention makes all the diffrence here, Wave. There is no way to deny that we are, at the moment, causing more harm than good to the people of the empire. But we do it in order to stop the conflicts. We do it in order to reach stability. The current imperial court does not."

"It is not the empire you need to justify yourself against, Makeias. That is rarely necessary. It is the revolutionary army that seem like the better option when compared to this. They sustain themselves by the support of the people. Not by inflicting further destruction on them."

"And where are they now, Wave?"

Wave looked at the other man for some moments before he spoke. "I need to know what our next step is. I am fine with not knowing every little detail of your schemes but I need to know that we are moving towards a solution to the situation."

Makeias slowly looked up at the sky. "I need to recover a bit more of my strength. Then I will deliver the first blow."

"With what?" Wave asked.

"Chaos will be the first strike. And in it's wake we will move." Makeias said. "The first strike will come from within. You might have heard that I worked closely with the imperial court after I returned to the capital. Acting as organizer of the security on many of their meetings."

Wave remembered how Makeias had talked about that during Budo's last meeting. "Did you manage to gain some valuable information during those meetings?"

"Not really. I mostly supervised their more inconsequential gatherings. And I did not even partake in them personally. That job mainly just consisted of a lot of late nights, guarding and... handshaking."

Wave gave Makeias a questioning look. Waiting for the general to go on but he never did. Wave was about to ask more about it when they were both interrupted by the arrival of Tom-Tom. The big man walked up on the deck from the walkway that connected it to the shore. He approached them both at a brisk pace.

"Sorry for the interruption, friends. But I carry urgent news."

"Don't worry, Tom-Tom." Makeias said with a gesture with his hand. "What news?"

"General, it seems like Liza's last mission has gone a bit awry." Tom-Tom said and shot a quick gaze at Wave. Makeias immediately understood why his subordinate was keeping the message vague. He nodded to Tom-Tom.

"Understood. I will come immediately."

"Need any help?" Wave asked.

"No." Makeias said immediately. "I will handle it. It's just a matter of keeping discipline. You have your on troops to lead, Wave. We will talk more later."

Wave nodded and followed them to the walkway. After some brief goodbyes, Makeias and Tom-Tom left Wave on the ship and walked off to the shore.

"You don't trust the boy with this?" Tom-Tom asked when they were out of earshot of Wave.

"Not yet. This alliance of ours is still a bit rocky. I don't want our partnership to fall through." Makeias was silent for some moments before he continued. "Morbus has infected Wave as well."

Tom-Tom seemed suprised by that. "Do you not trust him?"

"It wasn't my intention. Morbus acted on it's own." Makeias said and looked at his hands. The only part of his body not covered in bandages except from his feet. "We are sealing my hands as well. I will keep them covered until battle is joined. It's is getting harder to control the teigu."

Tom-Tom nodded. "Understood."

"Now, what problems has Liza ran into?" Makeias asked.

"I'm afraid that she hasn't run into any problems. She is the problem."

* * *

Tatsumi was standing beside the door into the training hall. His back against the wall. Alone in the long corridor. He could clearly hear the commotion from the other side of the closed doors. The loud sounds of steel hitting steel, agonized screams and begging. Only every now and then interrupted by the excited voice of his lover.

He sighed. He had hope to get some more time but he guessed he would have to go for it now. This was a good opportunity and he could hopefully save some of Wave's subordinates in the process. He had hoped to get a few more things ready but he knew that the longer he waited, the closer the prime minister would get to the truth.

He reached into his pocket and brought up a rather large vial that he had brought with him. He had known that it migth come to this. He took a deep breath and then drank all the contents of the bottle in a single chug. Forcing down the sticky liquid into himself. He wheezed slightly after he had done it and had to suppress his urge to start coughing. He walked over to a window in the corridor, opened it and threw the bottle away as far as he could. Afterwards he turned around and walked over to the doors of the training hall.

_Ok. Let's start it_, he thought before he pushed the doors open and walked into the training hall.

Esdese was standing in the other half of the training hall. Facing the group of students that had now fled towards the doors leading to the locker rooms. The doors were however locked so they were struggling with getting them open. Clawing and pounding at them in panick as Esdese picked them of one by one. Some chose to turn around and face her with their weapons when she got close. Others tried to sprint to the side in hopes to get to the doors behind her. The ones that Tatsumi had just passed through. And some just got down on their knees and begged her. It made little diffrence. They all met the same fate.

Tatsumi watched the cruel scene unfold for some seconds.

The boy that had stepped forward and talked to Esdese was lying dead on the floor behind her. It looked like he had been stabbed right through the neck. Esdese had rewarded his courage by giving him a warrior's death. Swift and merciless. Beside him lay a trail of bodies. Leading to Esdese's feet. There was a pile of five persons a couple of meters behind her. Consisting of people who were simply knocked unconscious. But Tatsumi knew that the fate that awaited those who had been knocked out was probably much worse then the cruel dignity of a warrior's end.

A young girl was on her knees in front of Esdese. Desperatly tugging at her dead friend's arm while her scared eyes were staring at Esdese. The friend she tried to help up was crushed under a huge block of ice. Tatsumi could immediately see that the ice had killed it's victim but the girl was apparently in denial. Pulling at her dead friend's arm in an attempt to get her out from under the ice. Esdese was standing less than two meters away from her. Looking down at the girl with an amused smile.

"Esdese!" Tatsumi called out.

"Yes, Tatsumi?" Esdese answered without turning around.

"We need to talk." he said.

"Wait for a little bit. I will be done soon." she said calmly. She tilted her head to the side slightly and gave the terrified girl a look of curiosity. Wondering what she was hoping to achieve.

"Stop this Esdese. This isn't necessary." Tatsumi said. His voice a little louder than normal. Earning him some hopeful gazes from the group of Wave's students.

"Necessity is often a relative concept. And I am the one who makes the calls here." Esdese said as she raised her sword. The girl in front of her froze as Esdese let the point of the long sword slowly trail down the side of her face. So lightly that it didn't even draw blood. "You are a pretty one." Esdese complimented with a smile.

The girl seemed to take that as a sign that she had a chance. She let go of her dead friend's hand and threw herself down at Esdese's feet. "Please don't! I don't want to die! I have a little sister who depends on me." she shouted loudly as she pressed her forehead to the ground in front of Esdese.

Esdese looked down at the girl for some moments. Then she raised her weapon and put it's point against her back. Then she slowly, almost gently, pushed the sword down into her.

The girl whimpered but that was basically the only reaction that could be noticed as Esdese pierced her body. Driving her sword through the girl's heart. When Esdese removed her sword the girl remained still. Killed in that position.

Esdese then turned her attention to the other students that were trying to escape to the locker rooms. Behing her Tatsumi had already reached the conclusion that he couldn't stop her with words alone. But he had known that before he entered. He knew how to get her attention.

Esdese started to walk towards the students when she heard the sound of steel being drawn behind her and immediately stopped. Tatsumi had drawn Incursio and pointed it at her back.

"Esdese! I challenge you to a sparring match. Here and now." he exclaimed loudly.

Esdese remained still for some moments. Not turning around "I am working, Tatsumi. Let's have our match as soon as I am done."

"Too bad." Tatsumi said. Feigning disappointment. "It is now or never."

Esdese was motionless for a while. After almost ten seconds, Tatsumi started to think that his plan might have failed after all. But then she turned around. Her smile radiant and her cheeks red.

"You're so hopeless, my sweet little Tatsumi." she called out in a giddy voice and started to walk towards him.

_Oboy. here we go_, Tatsumi thought.

Esdese walked up to him until she was only a meter or so away from him. When she did, most of the students behind her started to move along the wall. Heading for the other door now that Esdese was occupied.

Esdese's smile was wide and happy. She looked so little like the monstrous predator that she was when she smiled like that. She simply looked happy. Tatsumi gave her careful smile in return. To their side the students where starting to escape through the doors.

"Don't you think I realize what you are trying to do?" Esdese asked him. "They are not going to get far, Tatsumi. I will just send my hunters after them."

"Who said anything about the students." Tatsumi said. At ease now that he knew that she wasn't aware of his true motive. "I just decided to give you what you want."

"How kind of you." Esdese said as her smile grew a bit more sinister. Not believing him at all. "This is going to hurt a bit, you know?"

"You think?" Tatsumi asked sarcastically as the last of the students left the hall. Now it was only the two of them left.

She looked at him for a while before she spoke. Enjoying the anticipation and excitment that the coming fight gave her. Tatsumi on the other hand, was rather nervous. Hoping to not take too much damage in the match. He needed to still be able to move around efficiently after this.

"I love you." he said silently in an attempt at damage control.

"And I love you. Now get your cute little ass armoured up in Incursio. My patience is at it's end." Esdese said. Her smile growing more threatening with every passing moment.

Tatsumi took a deep breath and did as he was bid.

* * *

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Makeias roared and slapped Liza so hard that he sent her flying to the side and falling over. Liza grabbed her already reddening chin when she had regained control over her body's movement. Sitting on the ground. Her frown was deep yet, despite that, she smiled when she looked at him. And it was not a friendly smile.

"I brought you the recources, didn't I?" Her tone was mocking.

They were standing in what had been the center of a small town. Now there was nothing left of it but ashes and rubble. Two great pyres were still smoldering thirty meters from them. Filling the air with the smell of burnt flesh. The ground they stood on was black with soot. Makeias was accompanied by Tom-Tom and Kai. A hundred meters behind them, troops were moving out into the wilderness again.

"I gave you eight hundred men and an important mission. I trusted you with real power and you repay me by throwing this in my face." he said and gestured towards the area around them.

"You sent me out to forage recources and that is what I did. Forage."

"You were not supposed to engage!" Makeias shouted at her. He took a couple of deep breaths. Trying to calm down. He had made a mistake. And it's prize had been steep. "Why did you attack? Did these people offer any threat?" he asked rhetorically.

Liza rose up slowly.

"Do you not undeerstand how this might hurt us. Gallus will use this to turn the people against us."

Liza just shrugged. "Safer to not have any witnesses."

"Sooner or later people will find out about this and then they will connect it to us." he sighed and grabbed his forehead with a hand. "How many civilians?" he asked and looked at her.

Liza just grinned at him and shrugged again.

Makeias held her eyes for some moments before he shifted his gaze to Kai who was standing beside him. The young man that acted as the main adminstrator of his forces was wearing a black armor and a long red coat.

"About a thousand, sir. This was a community of farmers and traders." the younger man said. Kai had always been a bit shorter than Makerias but way more muscular. But since Makeias recent changes, that diffrence had been amplified. Makeias now had to look down at the other man and Kai's chest was almost twice as wide as Makeias's.

"Farmers and traders." Makeias said slowly and glared at Liza but the young girl showed no remorse. She only smiled with satisfaction at him. Makeias knew that she had held no grudge against this now destroyed village. She had simply wanted to hurt him by destroying it. And he should have recognized that risk from the start. But he hadn't. And now a thousand more people were dead because of it. Just because he couldn't realize the risk.

The blood of the small village was on his hands and he knew it. That was the real reason for his anger.

"You were supposed to move in and steal about half of the village's recources. Leaving enough to make sure that they didn't starve. Instead you order a direct charge and slaughter the entire town in the span of an hour."

She just nodded at him. Makeias tried a diffrent route.

He walked up to her and then crouched down so that they were on the same height. "Did it not bother you?" he asked lowly. "Their screams. Their suffering and misery as you brought death to them and all they knew."

She met his gaze without hesitation. She shook her head at him. Still smiling. That bothered Makeias a lot. The more incompassionate she became towards the suffering around her, the closer she got to walking down the same road as Esdese. In the back of his head, a small voice screamed at him to grab her throat and let Morbus do it's thing. The voice telling him to not take any risks.

But his emotions were getting in the way. The little girl's father had left both her and her brother behind when he gave his life to rescue Makeias. A long time ago. And Makeias did not know if he was capable of killing his best friend's children.

"You are starting to become something quite unsightly, Liza. And quite dangerous."

"Says the one who is responsible for a hundred times more death than me." Liza said.

That shut Makeias up for some moments. He was reminded that she was older than her years. She knew how to hit him where it hurt.

"Morality aside." Makeias said and rose up. "You have gravely disobeyed a direct order and caused a frightful amount of unneccesary death. Execution would be the usual punishment."

Liza's smile bared it's teeth at him. "Come and try it, pillager. I would like few things more than a chance to smash your pale face in."

Makeias looked down at her coldly. "Or maybe it is your brother that should take the punishment in your stead. Since you won't show any remorse."

That killed Liza's smile immediately. "You wouldn't dare."

"Is that so?" Makeias asked. He turned around and started to walk away. "It would probably be more effective. He was always much easier to hurt than you. And always much quicker to cry."

Liza jumped at him immediately. "I'll kill you!" she screamed and jumped up on his back. Putting her naked feet into his back and wrapping her arm around his neck in hard hold. Makeias froze and the scene did so with him. Everyone halting themselves.

Tom-Tom was the quickest one in the group but he was also furthest away. His hand was hovering over Liza's shoulder when everyone stopped. Kai had drawn his sword and it's edge was pointing at Liza's throat. His armor rattling as his quick movement came to a halt.

"Not him. You cannot hurt Jack." she hissed at his neck. "You can take everything away from me but you will not destroy him." Makeias realized just how smart it had been to not let Liza see her brother before he had Tatsumi send him to the capital.

"Liza.." Tom-Tom said gently and slowly let his giant hand touch her shoulder. But he was interrupted as Makeias slowly turned his head around. And not in a natural way.

Makeias head slowly turned around until he could look at Liza with both his eyes. It didn't turn around completly but still far more than what was natural. Since his shoulders remained stationary. "Have nobody ever told you that you shouldn't touch the sick ones."

Liza hid her fear with fury but Makeias could still see it in her eyes. She was still just a kid. And that thought stung Makeias with bitterness and sadness. He turned his head back.

"Get off me, Liza. Your brother will not be punished for your actions." he said somberly.

Liza looked at his neck for some moments before she lightened her grip and fell down on her feet behind him. Tom-Tom patted her on the shoulder. And Kai took a step back. Even if he kept his sword drawn.

Makeias turned around and looked at her. "Liza, you are hereby stripped of your soldiers and your rank. From now on you will act as my personal bodyguard. You will stay close to me at all times so that I can keep an eye on you."

"Tchh." Liza said and spat to the side.

"And from now on you will stay in line." Makeias said. The threat against Jack didn't need to be said.

"I really hope that he is okay. For your sake." Liza growled at him.

"So do I, Liza." Makeias said and started walking away. "So do I."

* * *

Esdese's steps had an unusual spring in them as she walked down the corridor while carrying Tatsumi. Her hunger for battle and fighting momentarily satisfied. Her smile was joyful and her eyes wide, clear and attentive. She would probably had been bouncing forward if she wasn't tired from the match.

"Seriously, were you trying to spank me or something?" she asked happily and looked down at Tatsumi. He only grunted in response.

Esdese had a strong red mark forming at the back of her legs. Just under her butt. The clear red streak moving across both her legs. Visible just above her thigh high boots. Because of her short skirt. It stung but wasn't hurting that badly anymore. It was a sweet pain to Esdese, though. She was so, so proud of it. It was the one hit that Tatsumi had managed.

He had actually managed to kick her. She hadn't intended for it to happen, yet it had. And while she hadn't been going all out she had still not been going easy on him. Yet he had managed to get a kick to connect with the back of her legs. She couldn't remember the last time when someone had managed to hit her. She had since long forgotten how it felt.

The pain was a constant reminder of just how much Tatsumi had grown in power. A reminder of how beautiful his strength had grown. And how fantastic his potential was. It reminded her of how much she loved him. She moved her head down and snuggled her chin against his head that was resting on her shoulder. Smiling with closed eyes. Getting some of Tatsumi's blood on her as she did.

Tatsumi was in a much worse state than Esdese. This battle had been hard for him. Since he wanted to convince Esdese that he was fully spent when the fighting was done. His blood was dripping down as they walked through the corridors of the inner palace.

She was carrying Tatsumi with one arm under his legs and one supporting his back. His head was resting against her shoulder. Blood was pouring from his nose and he had a smashed lip. Courtesy of her fist. Tatsumi was suprised that he hadn't lost any teeth. One of his wrists was extremely swollen. It had been hit by a big block of ice as she had used it to disarm him. Esdese had checked it to see that nothing was broken and assured him that it was fine but he still couldn't move it around at the moment.

He was sure that some of his ribs were broken but Esdese said that it wasn't so. He had also sprained his leg quite violently as he had been forced to move around when his leg and foot was frozen in place. Apart from that, he just had a lot of bruises and small wounds. His eyes were closed and even if he had some energy reserves left he was hiding them the best he could. Genuinly resting against her as he did. Trying to regain some strength.

"You did really good." Esdese said for the sixth time and pecked him on the forehead. "I am so proud of you."

Tatsumi once again only grunted in response.

"Don't fall asleep yet. I want to put some healing balm on you when we get back to our rooms." Esdese said.

"I am trying to dream of a life where my relationship doesn't include my partner beating me half to death." Tatsumi mumbled and put his nose into her uniform. Coloring the white cloth with his blood.

"Things are perfect as they are, Tatsumi." Esdese said in a satisfied voice and looked up from him. "This is just how it should be."

Tatsumi only mumbled something inaudible in response.

Twenty minutes later he was lying down in their bed without his shirt as Esdese put some gooey liquid on his wrist and ribcage. Her hands moving swiftly and delicately over his skin as he lay on his stomach. Very tenderly massaging him as she did. She had already wiped and cleaned his wounds.

"You are magnificent." she said lowly. She had been praising him non-stop ever since the match ended. "You are more than a match for my most powerful subordinates now."

"I don't feel like much of a match for anyone right now." he complained as he winced from the pain, when Esdese touched his sprained foot. "I need to sleep. Could you get me something to help with that. I think the pain will make me unable to do so otherwise."

Esdese nodded. She finished covering his damaged parts with the sticky liquid and then walked away to the bathroom. After some moments she came back back with the bottle that Tatsumi knew that she would bring.

"Have you eaten much today?" she asked as she sat down on the bed beside him.

"Not more than normally."

She nodded and opened the small bottle. "Then two should be enough."

"Give me three for good measure."

Esdese reached over and gave him three small white pills. "These will knock you out until tomorrow."

He nodded. Tatsumi knew what they were. They were strong sedatives. Capable of even putting out people with their kind of extroardinary physique and bodies.

"It's growing late. Will you stay and rest with me." he asked as he put the pills in his mouth. Chewing them to powder but not swallowing.

"I'm afraid not, Tatsumi. I have two small meetings and a legion inspection to get done before the day is over." she said and closed the bottle.

Tatsumi had guessed something like that. She had a lot more duties now that she was great general. And she was always serious about her duties. Loyal as she was. But he had forseen this. When Esdese once again turned her face towards him, he was just a couple of centimeters from her.

Esdese welcomed Tatsumi's kiss by instinct. Opening her mouth to let his tongue in as they embraced for a little while. Too late did she realize what was happening. Only detecting the strange taste after some moments. Having been too focused on the kiss.

She grabbed his shoulder with a hand and pushed him down into the bed as she remained sitting on it's side. They looked at each other as Esdese wiped her lips with the back of her other hand. But she knew that it was too late. She had already swallowed his saliva. She frowned at him.

"Tatsumi."she said. Her voice a bit harder and colder.

"What?" Tatsumi said as he relaxed down into the bed. Loudly swallowing that which remained in his mouth. "You spent the entire afternoon beating me up. I think it is fair for me to demand that you stay with me as I recover. At least for one night."

"You don't make demands here, Tatsumi. I am the one who dictates your rights." Esdese said in the same tone and rose up from the bed. She grabbed her head with one of her hands as soon as she had straightened up. The sedatives were already starting to work on her. She could feel how her, otherwise, razor sharp instincts were slowly being dulled. She could no longer tell what the people on the floors under and over them were doing. She sighed.

"You shouldn't have done that." she said and turned her irritated eyes over to Tatsumi. "Do you think that..." she started but her voice trailed of as she noticed that Tatsumi was already fast asleep. Rendered unconscious by the drug. She looked at him for some moments and then shook her head. There was nothing more to it now. She had to just sleep it off. These sedatives were strong enough to easily affect her own physique. Which was why she kept them around.

Now she would have to wait for their effect to pass. She could not go around and perform her duties in such a half assed and sloppy state. She would have to do them tomorrow instead.

She walked out of the room and returned twenty minutes later. After she had postponed the evenings undertakings. She was not used to feeling so unsteady. Her perceptive instincts and extreme body control momentarily numbed. She felt really clumsy. She usually had such complete control over herself that her sudden ineptitude seemed comical. It almost made her giggle. As if she was drunk.

Even if it was impossible for any onlooker to the tell that she was in less control of herself.

She got undressed rather quickly and then climbed up on the bed. She sat on it for some moments and looked at Tatsumi with light irritation. She reached out and poked his chin.

"Bad boy." she mumbled silently and pushed his head around with her finger. "I ought to do something to you for this."

Though, due to her drugged down mind, she couldn't think of anything fun and appropriate to do to him while he was passed out. After some moments she sighed again and layed down beside him. She reached out with her arms and pulled his body close. Making him into the little spoon as she hugged him from behind. She snaked her hand in under his shirt and put it against his chest. So that she could feel his heartbeats. That was at least a little bit relaxing. Normally she could detect them just by being near him but not at the moment, due to the drug.

She put her nose in his hair and slowly fell asleep like that. Her heartbeats becoming slower and her breathing more regular.

They lay like that for almost forty minutes before Tatsumi opened his eyes. He remained absolutely still for a start. Listening to Esdese.

Then he tried to move slightly. Esdese did not react.

He started to move a little bit away from her.

Still no response from Esdese. The usual tightening of her grip when he moved away absent. He turned his head so that he could look at her from the corner of his eye.

"Hey." he whispered silently. Already expecting her eyes to open and look at him. But they didn't. He couldn't stop a small smile from spreading on his face. His lover was really asleep. And not in her usual, still-aware-of-everything-around-her sleep. For the moment she slept like a normal person. Her extreme instincts and senses numbed by the drug. Now she was truly unaware of her surroundings.

He very slowly moved his hand up to the arm that was coiled around his chest and then very slowly removed it. After ten minutes he was completely free. He carefully moved out of the bed. He stretched his limbs. It's seemed like things had worked out. It had been a gamble. He knew that Esdese kept these powerful pills in case she needed them so he had guessed what she would bring. Just one of those pills could probably have put him to sleep for six hours if not more. Esdese had maybe gotten one and a half pills in her and she was fast asleep. And her body had always been stronger than his.

It had been a race against time. He had known what kind of things she kept in her living quarters so he had been able to get some antidote to stop the sedatives from having any effect on him. The trouble had of course been that he couldn't drink it in Esdese's presence or she migh have been able to figure something out. So he had to drink it before their fight. He had feared that his body would have breaken down the antidote before he got the pills in him but it seemed like he was in the clear. His body still hurt like hell though. But he could move well enough. He didn't expect his task to require much in the terms of body strength.

He turned around and looked at Esdese. She was lying with her arms out in front of her on the bed. A blanket covering up parts of her. She looked really peaceful. Tatsumi sighed silently. She always seemed so innocent when she slept. Innocent and beautiful. In all her feminine glory.

In that moment a thought hit Tatsumi that he hadn't even considered yet.

He could probably kill her right now.

It was probably the first moment in a very long time that he would be able to do so with ease. Since she could usually detect danger even when she slept. And no suprise momentum was ever going to work on her as long as she had Mahapadma. But now he could probably shove a sword through her heart before she could react.

The heart that loved him more than anything else.

His smile grew bitter. A long time ago he would have killed for an opportunity like this. But now he needed her against the prime minister. He killed his hesitation with that reasoning. Ignoring the other reason why he couldn't drive his sword through her in that moment. He turned around and left the room.

He guessed that he had about two to three hours.

* * *

"Ahh Tatsumi of the jaegers. How can we aid you, sir?" The elite guards called out as he approached them. There were two of them. Guarding a massive wooden door.

It was a little bit past midnight and they would have been much more alarmed by his approach if Tatsumi hadn't acted so calmly. They knew that he would have had to pass through severeal inspections just to get to their level.

"Just a routine check, gentlemen." Tatsumi answered with a big smile. "The great general had a hunch and wanted me to take a look and see that everything was in order over here."

"Nothing to worry about, sir. We are ever vigilante." the soldier said and saluted.

"That is good to hear." Tatsumi said. He knew that he had to be fast. The system was built up so that if one single guard even shouted, the message would spread like wildfire in this part of the palace. He had passed by the other checkopints by using Incursio's invisibilty but these guards were competent. They would be able to detect that someone was coming even if they couldn't see them. And the first thing they would do would be to raise the alarm.

"What happened to your face, sir?" the other guard asked. "Is it anything serious?"

"Nah. Don't worry about it." Tatsumi said and put his hands in his pockets. "Just some rough loving."

"Ohh." the man said. "Was it a punishment?"

"Not really. You wouldn't believe what forms her love can take." Tatsumi said in a joking tone.

The guards smiled. "Do you mean that we should pity you or envy you?"

"A little bit of both, I guess." Tatsumi said and chuckled. The guards chuckled with him. "Actually this damage was a bit intimate." Tatsumi said an gestured for the guards to come closer. They lookeed at each other and then took a few steps towards him.

As soon as they both were within in his reach, he acted.

He grabbed his sword and did a single swing before they could react. Cutting of both their throats in the same swing. Using the small gap between their armor and their helmets. Both of them fell down without a sound. Tatsumi immediately moved on to the big room. He had nowhere to hide the bodies and there would be a patrol there to check up on the situation in three minutes.

He opened the giant doors and moved into the dark room. Closing them behind him.

"Who is there?" the voice of a young boy called out.

Tatsumi straightened up and answered as loudly as he dared. "Emperor Makoto, I am very sorry to disturb your rest. It is me, Tatsumi of the jaegers."

A single light was lit on the other side of the room. Revealing a giant bed with a young man climbing out of it in his pyjamas. A single light was glowing from the table by the bed.

"Tatsumi? Why have you come at this hour?" the boy said and tried to rub the sleep away from his eyes.

"Esdese sent me, my emperor. It is very urgent." he said and started to move across the room. Doing everything to seem unthreatening. He knew that Makoto had some way to summon more guards to him in just some moments. He just didn't know the exact method. So he could not risk scaring the boy. This was something that he couldn't have done shortly after coming into Esdese's "service". This was something that could only be done thanks to the trust he had garnered over time.

"Why didn't you just send a courier?" the boy said and got out from the bed.

"It is extremely confidential and extremely urgent. That is why Esdese even alerted you guards of my visit. Which is why they didn't alert you of my arrival. My visit must remain a secret." Tatsumi said. Giving the boy the answers before he started to ask the questions. All to stop him from worrying.

"A secret? Does the prime minister know about this?" the boy asked. He seemed more confused than afraid.

"He does, my emperor. It was his idea to keep this secret." Tatsumi said as he kept walking towards the younger boy.

That seemed to win over Makoto's trust. "If the prime minister thinks this is necessary then I will trust that it is." he said and walked over to Tatsumi. Tatsumi nodded and waved for the emperor to come closer.

"Tell me. What is it?" he asked when he got close.

Tatsumi bent forward slightly. "I will tell you when we meet again..." he whispered and shoved his sword through the heart of the emperor. "..in hell."

Then he swung Incursio upwards. Opening the young boys chest all the way up to his throat. Not a sound escaped the emperor's mouth. He slowly fell backwards. His eyes wide in shock. He looked like he didn't understand what had just happened. Tatsumi looked at the boy as he fell down.

With a silent "thump", the emperor fell down on marble floor.

Tatsumi felt like this had been way too easy. He was supposed to be the emperor. He ruled over the entire empire yet he had been brought down by a single silent swing. It was almost ironic. Tatsumi looked at the teigu in his hand. Now the emperor had been killed by one of the very weapons his ancestor had designed to protect his realm with.

His attention was brought back to the young boy as he slowly moved his hand up in Tatsumi's direction. He looked like he was begging for help as his lifeblood spread out over the beautiful marble floor. As Tatsumi looked at him he realized just how young this boy was. Now that all his big clothes and hats were of it was very easy to see that he was just a scared little child. Barely into his teens.

Tatsumi clenched his teeth. This victory had nothing sweet about it. In the end, the child in front of him had been nothing more than a tool for the prime minister. Used for his position. A role that he was born into. His only sin was his ignorance. Which had been forced upon him by adults ever since he was born. Tatsumi suddenly felt nothing but pity for the dying child in front of him.

Tatsumi raised his weapon and ended the boy's suffering.

* * *

Ninety minutes after Tatsumi had left their quarters, Esdese started to stir in the bed. Her perceptive instincts and senses had already returned. Even if she herself was still asleep. But now her subconscious once again started to notice things around her in her sleep. And the first thing she percieved was that there was no body in her arms anymore. She slowly started to rouse because of this absence.

Her arms reached out a little bit around her. Searching for him. When they didn't find him she groaned silently. Starting to wake up more and more. Her hands stretched out for as long as they could reach in front of her. Finally they landed on warm skin. Her nails immediately dug into it as she grabbed a hard hold on the body and pulled it towards her. Causing Tatsumi to very silently whimper. The sound making Esdese go back to rest as she returned his body to it's original place in her arms. Returning her nose to his hair.

"Don't go so far away." she mumbled drowsily. Half asleep.

Tatsumi grabbed one of the arms that had wrapped themselves around him. "Don't ever let me go." he whispered to her quietly.

He thought about the situation for some moments as Esdese went back to sleeping. Now things would be harder for the prime minister to control. He might very well suspect that Tatsumi was a traitor but Tatsumi felt confident that he didn't have any evidence against him. At least that is what he thought. His hand tightened slightly around Esdese's arm.

_Don't ever let me go_ ,he thought. _Because the end has begun._

Fifteen minutes after that a military courier banked loudly on the doors to their quarters. Bringing news of an emergency.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**I don't even want to think about how late this one is. I feel like I have lost a lot of that speed that I was so adamant about earlier. Admittedly, I haven't been lazy, my real life has just been very hectic.**

**I really can't understand the variance of the influx of followers this story gathers. Somtimes it can go ten days without anything happening. And then, on the eleventh day, fifteen more people start to suddenly follow it. I sometimes wonder what causes these sudden bursts.**

**Anyway, this arc is slowly starting to ramp up. Beginning with the death of the emperor. As you can guess, things are going to escalate from here on. Rapidly. I am looking forward to writing it. If I can find the time.**

**On that note, the next one should go faster. I will have some more time on my hands the coming week. So hopefully in ten days.**

**Once again, thanks for all the reviews/comments and feedback. It's just as fun for me to read them as it is for you to read this story. If not more. I read them all so don't think that you are throwing a message nito the sea.**

**Take care of each other until next time.**


	27. Collapse

**A slightly smaller chapter this time.**

* * *

**Collapse.**

The emperor looked really dignified on the altar they had placed him on. They had dressed him up in his most imposing clothes and placed a scepter in his hands. Just over his chest. It seemed like they had been able to cover up any traces of the wound that had killed him.

"And thus we give our final farewell to emperor Makoto. The leader of the empire and the protector of it's people." a priest droned on. Standing beside the altar.  
The big chapel was filled with politicians, warriors and nobles. Esdese was standing in the front row. Wearing a black suit and a matching black cap. All the military leaders and warriors that were attending the event stood behind her. Gallus standing on her left side as the only other general present in the capital. Tatsumi stood a bit further back. Also dressed up for the ceremony.

The prime minister himself was standing beside the altar. Dramatically wiping his eyes with a handkerchief. Tatsumi looked at the man for some moments. Confident that it was just an act. He had a feeling that the prime minister was already planning ahead. He shifted his gaze over to the dead emperor. Things were going to get pretty chaotic now. Since it would be unclear of who the new ruler was. Or how the prime minister was going to remain in control without his puppet.

Half an hour later, the procedure was done. The crowd was slowly moving to the next room. Leaving the priests with the emperor. General Gallus staying behind with them. His religion forcing him to pay further respect to his dead leader.

Tatsumi walked up to Esdese as she moved towards the next room. The crowd walking in the same direction all around them.

"Bored?" he asked with a smile. Already knowing the answer.

"Very." Esdese said. Unsmiling.

"I thought you were the great general now? Can't you just do whatever you want?" he teased her.

Esdese kept her gaze forward. "Only a child thinks that those in power are free to do whatever they want."

"I must say that it is strange to see you in mourning clothes, though. Always thought that you didn't let the dead bother you."

"Just because I don't let the death around me affect me doesn't mean that I don't grieve for them. I am not a machine, Tatsumi. I just don't let grief affect how I live."

"Ahh so you liked the kid then?" Tatsumi said. Continuing to tread the line between normal discussing and teasing.

"He was the leader of the empire that I fight for. That is as far as our relation went. Nonetheless, he was my responsibility. To an extent, his death is my failure."

"Ohh so you are sad?" Tatsumi said with exaggerated suprise. She often poked at him when he was grieving so he was not going to miss a chance to do the same.

"Not really." Esdese said and moved some of her hair away. "Just bored and annoyed."

The hall they walked into was filled with many small tables and chandeliers. The butlers were walking around and serving drinks and snacks to the crowd that moved into the room. Esdese took a glass of champagne from a tray that one of them was carrying.

"Have you been able to find anymore clues about the assassin?" he asked her as she sipped on her drink.

"Not yet." she said. It had been a week since the emperor had been discovered dead in his chambers. Along with the guards outside his room. Esdese had immediately taken in every guard that was patroling that part of the castle for questioning. Of course, Tatsumi realized that this "questioning" took place in the torture chambers.

"Do you think any of the guards are hiding something?" Tatsumi asked.

"I don't think so. Most of them are spent by now. They just didn't know anything about it."

Tatsumi did not need to ask her about what she meant by spent. "That didn't save them from a rather grim fate."

"They failed their duty to protect the emperor." Esdese said but then she shrugged. "But yeah, they were just unlucky. Being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Too weak to handle the situation they happened to be in."

"Just like the emperor."

"Indeed." she said and looked at him for the first time since they had started to talk. The entire hall was filled with silent discussions.

"So we have no idea yet?" Tatsumi said.

"Not yet." Esdese said slowly and looked at him over her glass. Her sharp eyes piercing him. She still hadn't smiled yet.

Tatsumi could hear the whispering discussions around them and he had noticed that a lot of people were looking at him. And if he was able to notice them, then he knew that Esdese could probably hear everything that they were talking about.

There was no secret that many people suspected Tatsumi. He would have been down in those torture chambers along with all the guards if it wasn't for his position. Esdese herself had vouched for his innocence. Many of the noblemen and politicians had disliked that. Many thought that she was being too soft on him. That she let her love for him sway her judgement of the situation. Not that anyone dared to say so to her face.

There had been some complaints from those who had arranged this ceremony when it was clear that Tatsumi would be attending it together with Esdese. Some finding it in poor taste that one of those who many people suspected for the murder would attend the burial. But Esdese would have none of it. She would take her mate with her if she so desired. If they didn't want her to do so then they were free to try and stop her.

She looked at his eyes while she drank some of the champagne. Thinking about the situation while she listened to how the people around them whispered about if Tatsumi was the culprit or not. She herself was pretty confident that he was not. She had held him in her arms through the night in question. Until the couriers woke her up with the message about the emperor's death. But even then, Tatsumi had still been knocked out by the drug. He hadn't woken up until late in the morning that day.

Nonetheless, she was a bit conflicted. She knew that she had been unable to detect her surroundings for a part of that night. Due to the drug. But she had seen Tatsumi swallow the other half of the dose with her own eyes. She was sure that he had been unconscious until the next day.

Yet her instincts were still unclear on the matter. Mainly because a part of her didn't want him to be guilty as well. That would mean the end of the happy days that she had with him. She would be forced to act then.

Tatsumi was getting a bit nervous by her silent staring at him. Her eyes cold and calculated. "Everything okay?" he asked after some moments.

"Bored and annoyed." Esdese repeated. Her free hand started to move up towards his face. If she was intending to caress or hurt him, Tatsumi never learned since she halted herself in the middle of the movement. She let her arm fall down and turned her head to the side. Tatsumi followed her gaze and saw what she had detected.

The prime minister was walking towards them. Holding his hands behind his back.

"Great general. Tatsumi." he said with a nod to each of them.

"Prime minister." Tatsumi said and bowed lightly. Esdese just returned the nod.

"Thank you both for coming." The prime minister said and shot Tatsumi a glance. "This is a sad day indeed."

"Well, it is a slow one. That's for sure." Esdese said.

The prime minister nodded. "Great general, could I have a word with you? In private."

"Ohh do you not trust me, Prime minister?" Tatsumi exclaimed. "You hurt me."

The prime minister smiled at Tatsumi. "It is necessary to keep some standards, young man. It will be up to the great general to decide what she will tell you. As a minister, I can only relay the important information to her. Not to bystanders." The minister's smile did not reach his eyes.

Tatsumi was about to respond but one of Esdese's hands took a hold of his shoulder. Stopping him in his tracks.

"Let's talk, prime minister." Esdese said and walked past Tatsumi. Giving him her glass as she did. She cast him a glance over her shoulder that Tatsumi found hard to read.

He stood there and looked at how Esdese and the prime minister walked off to a secluded area of the hall and started to talk. Out of earshot of everyone.

Tatsumi sipped on the alcohol Esdese had given him as he looked at them. Thinking about everything. He wondered what the prime minister's next move would be. He knew the he still had a strong control over the imperial court. Since most of the people there were people that he had put there. The few people the he had not put in minister positions himself were either bought by him or didn't dare to oppose him.

But now the pretense was gone. Even if those in power knew that the prime minister was the one who ruled, a lot of the common people didn't. And that could lead to problems now that the prime minister's puppet was gone. He would have to keep a close eye on how the prime minister would handle the situation. Hopefully things would go as planned. Which meant that Esdese would be gaining more and more control of the empire.

He looked at his lover. Taking in her beauty for some moments. She wore the black suit with more elegance than most men in the room. But conisdering her lean and beautiful body, she could easily make most attires attractive. He sighed sadly.

In the end, she would be put in control. If things worked out. And then he would need to stop her. Somehow. Tatsumi held no illusion about what a rule under Esdese would look like. He knew that it might even be a worse fate for the empire than the prime minister's rule. And he was still unsure of if he would be able to bring her down.

He was brought back from his thinking as he noted that Esdese had started to smile. Which was a little bit worrying. After talking for a little while longer she finally nodded to the prime minister and walked back to Tatsumi.

It was easy for him to see that she was in a better mood now. Which was troubling. Tatsumi emptied the glass.

"Sooo.. what did the minister want? he asked when she got close.

"Curious?" Esdese asked and smiled at him.

"Well, you do seem much less bored now." Tatsumi said and gave the now empty glass to a passing attendant.

"Correct." Esdese said and moved in close to him.

"Care to explain why?" Tatsumi said and started to move a bit backwards.

"Nope. Not at all." Esdese said and stopped his escape by putting her arms around him. Pressing him close as she looked down on him.

"Come on." Tatsumi tried to goad her on. "Tell me. What did you talk about?"

"I will let it be a suprise." she said and put her nose against his. "You will find out soon enough."

Tatsumi didn't like the sound of that at all. When Esdese talked about suprises, it usually meant some new powerful move or some new horrible way to torture someone. But he couldn't press her more on this or he might seem suspiciously nosy.

He opened his mouth to respond but as soon as he did, Esdese shoved her tongue into it.

It seemed like whatever they had talked about had lifted her mood quite a bit, Tatsumi reasoned as her tongue started to wrestle with his own. Not that he didn't enjoy the exchange but literally everyone in the room was glancing at them. The situation did not get less troublesome when her hand reached down and grabbed a firm grip of his butt.

The whispers grew a bit louder around them. It was not really appropirate to make out and enjoy yourself at what was supposed to be a time for mourning. Not that any of the two lovers cared much about that. Tatsumi just found the extra attention a little bit bothering and Esdese herself couldn't care less. She had already paid her respects by just being there. That was far more consideration than she usually gave those that were mourning or dead.

After a little while, she moved her mouth away from his. "I should have kept you with me in the front row." she said and licked her lips. "Then I could at least have used you to stave off the boredom."

Tatsumi smiled at her darkely. In a twisted way, he liked that idea. It would be such a sweet insult towards the empire he hated so much. "Let's do that next time."

"I doubt that there will be a next time." Esdese said and rubbed her nose against his. "Whoever takes up the throne next will not fall so easily. I will see to it myself."

"Probably." Tatsumi said. "But you never know."

* * *

Akame sighed loudly as she bent backwards into her chair. Closing her eyes for some moments.

She knew what she had to do. She just really didn't want to do it.

She was alone in a big office. Sitting in an office chair behind a huge desk. Papers and reports spread all over it. Akame opened her eye and looked up at the high ceiling. It still felt strange that she should be the one to sit there. This had been Najenda's office. And now it was hers. It still felt wrong to her.

_Would you have understood what I am trying to do, Najenda?_ Akame thought as she heard how the footsteps of her visitors came closer. _Or would you curse me for what I am about to do?_

Leone was the first to enter the room. Throwing the door open in her usual, carefree way. "Goooood afternoon, Akame!" she called out with her usual energy as she walked into the room, followed by Isamu and a representative of the revolutionary army.

"Good afternoon, Leone." Akame said with a smile and leaned forward in her chair. Putting her arms on the desk.

"You should go outside a bit." Leone said as she sat down in one of the big chairs next to the desk. "The sun is shining. Did you even know that? You look like you could use some sun."

Akame smiled tiredly. "When I find the time."

Leone smiled and shook her head. "So.. why did you summon us?"

"Some good news and some bad news." Akame said. "What do you want to hear first?"

Isamu sat down in another chair. "Start with the bad news. Then we will hopefully have something to cheer us up after that." he sighed.

Akame nodded. "We have found Najenda's body."

The room fell silent after that sentence. The revolutionary army had never found the body of Najenda after the battle of Garu. The empire had announced that they had killed the leader of night raid but they knew that just might be a case of propaganda. But now they knew. They had already assumed that Najenda was dead and had moved on as if that was the case. Yet it was still a hard blow. They had all still hidden a small speck of hope inside.

"Where?" Leone asked after some moments of silence.

"She is on display on top of the main gate into the capital. She hangs naked and mutilated on the side of the wall." Akame said silently.

"So much for dignity." Leone said in a bitter voice. "Damn Esdese."

"I am not sure that this is the work of Esdese. Either way, I wanted you to know. So you don't run into this information somewhere else." Akame said and crossed her fingers in front of her face.

"It's been quite a while now." Isamu said. "Shouldn't her body be beyond recognition at this point?"

"They have done quite a lot of things to her corpse in order for it to be recognizable by everyone that knew who she was. I will spare you the details but let's just say that you should keep your gaze down if you happen to pass that gate." Akame said.

The room remained silent for some time after that. After a little while the representative of the revolutionary army cleared his throat. "And the good news?"

Akame took a deep breath. "The emperor is dead."

"What?!" Isamu exclaimed and Leone immediately straigthened up.

"How? I haven't heard anything about this?" the representative asked.

"They haven't revealed it yet. But the emperor was murdered in his bedchamber a week ago."

"By who?" Leone asked.

"We don't know. And from what we can tell, neither does the empire. The imperial court is searching fanatically. They have been doing suprise searches and raids day and night this week."

"This is great right?" Isamu said and looked around. Suprised that no one was cheering. "Right?"

"It is good." Akame admitted. "But we don't know the extent of what it means."

"Hmm?" Isamu said and looked at her.

"We have always known that the prime minister is the real enemy on the political field. The boy-emperor was never anything more than a puppet. So the question is, how will the prime minister keep his grip on the rule of the empire now?" Leone said and looked at Akame who nodded in response.

"Exactly." Akame said. "But one thing is for sure. A chaotic time lies ahead of the empire."

"Then we should move ahead with whatever plans we have." the representative of the revolutionary army said. "Their confusion is our opportunity."

"Agreed." Akame said and leaned back a bit.

"So... what is our next move?" Leone asked with a smile and looked at Akame.

Akame looked out over the room. "There is another faction in the empire that is currently opposing the imperial court. It is about time that we meet them."

"The pillager." Leone said. A bitter tinge in her voice. "I am sure that you know this but his treatment of the people we represent hasn't been much sweeter than that of the empire. Just some days ago we recieved messages about his forces slaughtering a town of almost a thousand. Mainly farmers and traders. No one knows why yet."

"I know." Akame said in a serious tone. "Believe me, I know."

"So are we going to try and take them down then?" Leone asked.

"No." Akame said slowly. "I want to try and start an alliance of sorts with them."

Leone closed her eyes and leaned back into her chair. An irritated expression on her face. She had sensed that this was coming.

"General Makeias has disappeared from the face of the earth ever since Garu." Isamu said. "It is obvious that he is playing the long game. How would we get a hold of him? And if we do, what makes you think that he will listen to what we have to say?"

"A couple of weeks ago you might have been right. But the situation has changed. Makeias has joined forces with the former jaeger Wave. And that man has kept some contact with us ever since he left the empire."

"Ahh." Leone said. Momentarily brought back from her sulking. "That kid that stole away half of the imperial fleet just some days after Esdese made him into an admiral. I like that one."

"Is Makeias aware that we have contact with him?" Isamu asked.

"I don't know. But I think that if we try and reach out to them, Wave can at least make them listen to what we have to say."

"And what do we have to say?" Leone asked.

"I want us to join forces." Akame said after a little while. "There is no secret that we are heavily reduced in strength. And when our hopes of winning this struggles shrinks, so do the number of people that want to join us. And the number of deserters we suffer everyday is only increasing. Joining forces with Makeias might give us the boost we need."

"This is most likely the man that killed Najenda, Akame." Leone said somberly.

"We don't know that for sure." Akame said. "Nor do we know what part Tatsumi played in all of it."

"He is called the pillager." Leone argued. "His forces only maintain themselves by plundering the weak and poor. We will lose credibility if we join them."

"We will not go into this pact without some demands." Akame tried to console. "We will demand that he changes some of the operations that he is conducting and that he stops his own suppression of the people."

Leone went silent for some moments. It was very clear that she didn't agree on this course of action.

Akame chose to ignore her for the moment. "I want to try and have a meeting with the leaders of that organization in person. With all of us present."

"Is that necessary? It would probably be easier to handle these negotiaions in some other way." Isamu said.

"It is necessary." Akame assured. "Because if the pilllager don't agree to our terms, then we will not allow him to leave the meeting alive."

Leone looked up at Akame. Understanding where things were going. "You don't think that Makeias will agree to our terms, do you?"

Akame shrugged. "Probably not. He is doing well enough without us already. However, this is a new faction and they do deserve a diplomatic chance first. And if things don't work out, then we will stop Makeias. Once and for all. One way or another, it is time for his pillaging days to end."

Leone smiled and nodded. Isamu seemed a little bit more sceptical.

"So we will invite him to negotiations that we think will fail, with the intentions of killing him when they do. Doesn't sound like a very heroic thing for a group of freedom fighters to do."

"We are not heroes, Isamu." Leone said. "We are assassins. And that is what we will always be."

Akame nodded. "And who knows. Bringing down the man known for terrorizing the people might make some more of said people come to our side. It might give us the boost we need."

Leone nodded again. "I like this plan."

"I will inform the leaders of the revolutionary army of this." the representative said and started to leave the room.

Isamu sighed. "I had hoped that my days of backstabbing were behind me."

* * *

"Dismembered alive into five parts by horses." Tatsumi read with anger in his voice. Walking beside Esdese towards the meeting in casual clothes. A small group of people walking behind them. Some of Esdese's advisors, officers and couriers.

"A flashy way to do it." Esdese said unpertubed. Noticing Tatsumi's irritation but not paying any heed to it. She was wearing her full uniform. Her long white cape swaying behind her as she walked.

"The man was thoroughly informed that his daughter and wife would be given a lot of attention by those he had betrayed." Tatsumi read on and looked at her with accusing eyes. He was reading a report about how some of the spies that had been found had been executed this last week. The entire palace was currently going through a vast search for the emperor's killer. Everyone even slightly suspicious was examined thoroughly. And if even the slightliest evidence or clues of betrayals were found, the people in question were taken to the torture chambers for "questioning".

And while they still hadn't found the assassin, the constant raids and suprise searches had caught a couple of spies and informers. Some belonging to the revolutionary army and some belonging to other nations.

Tatsumi himself felt no fear at all over the situation. Esdese had very clearly stated that she was his alibi. To just question her word or judgement was a huge risk. Even if you were a part of some special police force. So even if people were suspicious of him, none dared to accuse him openly.

Though Tatsumi still read most reports that came in about the discovered spies. Wishing to know if any of them were people he knew of or had worked with before. So far, they had all been strangers.

"Sounds like he knew that his family was in for a bit of rape as he was torn apart." Esdese said nonchalantly. "What of it?"

"How can this not make you sick to your stomach, Esdese? I know I have asked this before but I still can't understand you in this regard."

"It is you who are hard to understand, Tatsumi." Esdese said as she looked down the corridor they were walking through. "Why do you care about these people? You didn't know that they existed until you read that report."

"It is part of this strange thing called basic human compassion. I know that it may seem a bit foreign to you." Tatsumi said with bitter sarcasm.

"No. I really can't understand it, Tatsumi." Esdese said. "Thousands die of starvation in this country every day. Hundreds die in the torture chambers every day. If your irritation steems from this "basic human compassion" then why aren't you seething every hour of every day?"

They walked through a couple of big doors as she went on. "If it was just a question of some sort of feeling you have and I don't, then I would understand it. But these feelings of yours seem to be so selective."

Tatsumi sighed. He knew that this was a discussion that he couldn't win. They were simply too diffrent in this regard. He let the report slip out of his hand. Letting it fall down on the floor behind him. "In the end, it seems that it really just is something that I have and you don't." he said tiredly.

"That is fine." Esdese said. "You are mine, despite all our diffrences. You will still be my mate, even if some parts of you are a bit too soft for my preferences."

The group following them snickered lighty at that unintended smear. But Esdese immediately silenced them with a dangerous glance over her shoulder. She held their attention with her cold gaze for some moments before she turned her head forward again. She didn't like that. It seemed like they still didn't understand that any attacks at Tatsumi meant an attack at her.

She felt the need to statuate another example but had not found an opportunity to do so. There was a certain limit to how harsh you could punish one of your own subordinates for such a small thing as giggling at the wrong time. Even for her. She had her standards. She would have to wait until a good opportunity rose to make an example again.

She had however noted that her own underlings had started to be a bit more hostile against Tatsumi again. In whatever petty and pathetic way they could find. It irritated her in a big way. Not only because they were annoying Tatsumi but also because it meant that they they thought that he still had a part in the emperor's death in some way. Which meant that they didn't trust her word. Since she had been the one to absolve Tatsumi of any blame.

She was quite certain that Tatsumi was innocent but even if she hadn't been, that behaviour was unacceptable to her. They didn't trust their commander and leader. They had sworn her loyalty and pledged their lifes to her. Submitting to her strength. Yet they still dared to question her judgement and distrust her word.

She needed to make an example. A good example. Soon.

For now she just reached down and grabbed Tatsumi's hand as they walked on. Holding it in a strong grip.

Fifteen minutes later they arrived at the meeting. Their arrival to the giant hall was loudly announced by the guards by the door. Esdese letting go off Tatsumi for the moment as she walked up to her place.

They had arrived to the emperors main audience chamber. A humongous hall with two galleries to either side. Meant for the politicans and leaders that made up the imperial court. Both galleries were slightly tilted towards the end of the room, where a giant podium rose from the marble flood. At the top of it stood the empty throne of the emperor. The prime minister stood beside it.

The room was being filled with leaders as they arrived. All the members of the imperial court and their retinues getting ready for the meeting. The prime minister's entire cabinet was gathered.

Tatsumi took his place in the back of the hall. Leaning against the wall as Esdese made her way towards the podium and the prime minister.

She was however intervened by the minister of internal affairs on her way there. The grey man walking around with a cane.

"Good to see you again, great general." the old man said. "I heard that you had some trouble with another teigu user down in the training hall the other day."

"I would call it more of an annoyance than actual trouble, minister." Esdese said with a relaxed smile. "But yeah, Izou tried to hurt what belongs to me so I relieved him off his duties." she said with a quick glance at Tatsumi.

"It's a shame really." the minister said and coughed for some moments. "It seems like our entire empire is overrun with treachery these days."

"Indeed." Esdese said. "You don't have to worry though. I will keep the order."

"It is good.. cough.. that we have someone as reliable as you leading the military, Esdese." the minister said and coughed.

Esdese nodded and moved on. Walking up the stairs on the podium. Passing by general Gallus as she did. The big man saluting her. When she had reached the top she took her place behind the throne. On the side that the prime minister wasn't standing on.

After another ten minutes, most people in the room had found their places and the room was growing more silent. When the room had grown a bit more quiet, the prime minister walked forward.

"Thank you all for coming to this important meeting." he said and cleared his throat. "This last week has been very sad and very distressing for all of us. The passing of our beloved leader has not been easy. Especially when it was such a sweet and noble child. But it is time that we move forward."

Agreeing murmurs could be heard from the galleries.

"We have kept the death of the emperor somewhat secret from our population, since we didn't want to spread any panic. The people need to know that someone is in charge." the prime minister went on. "But our search for the murderer has drawn out, as have the search for who will inherit the throne. Sadly most of our former emperor's family is dead. So that search has been hard. As you all know."

Tatsumi chuckled discreetly. He knew that the only reason why they hadn't found any clear relatives to the emperor yet was because the prime minister had most of them killed years ago. Now it was hard to find anyone with a reasonable claim to the throne. Even more hard for the prime minister to find someone which would act as a puppet so willingly.

"But we can not keep this a secret forever. It is time that we act. We will announce that the emperor is dead tomorrow morning. While we continue to search for the next one in line for the throne. It is, however, important that we retain structure and order in these troubled times. Especially now, when it is unclear of who will be the next emperor. So in order to stop panick from spreading and retaining safety in the empire, the great general will act."

With those words the prime minister took a couple of steps back and Esdese stepped forth.

She smiled out over the galleries. Her hands on her hips. "Leaders of the empire!" she called out loudly. "In our current state, you are unable to produce a clear leader of the empire. So until such a time comes, the military will step in."

She raised her hands out in front of her. Her smile growing larger. "By the power bestowed upon me by my rank, given to me by the empire, I hereby declare martial law. The military will control the empire until stability has been found."

The entire room erupted into a loud mix of shouted objections, questions and exclamations.

At the back of the room, Tatsumi felt his jaw drop.

Had he just won? Had he just now been given what he had strived for, for such a long time? He simply stood there in shock. It sure as hell looked like he had won.

He understood very well what was going on. The realization just took it's time to sink in. The prime minister next move had been to keep his iron grip on the empire by momentarily making Esdese into it's supreme ruler. Removing all power from previous executives, legislatives and branches of the government. Giving it all to her.

Which of course only was a facade, Tatsumi reasoned. The prime minister knew that Esdese didn't have any real desire for political power. She wasn't really interested in ruling. That was why he dared to do this. He felt sure that she would only act as medium. The prime minister would stay in control. This was just another favor she did for him. Tatsumi could only imagine what she had asked for in return. Considering that this had to be the biggest favor she had done for him yet.

But it didn't matter. She was now in control of everything, just as Tatsumi had intended. He had never dreamt that just killing the child emperor would give him these results. Now he just had to use her. Now she would ruin the empire on his behalf. And she would love doing it.

He looked at her for some moments and then looked over at the prime minister. A bad feeling filled him as he noticed that the prime minister was looking directly at him with a knowing smile on his face.

He had to know, Tatsumi thought. He must understand. If he even had the slightest suspicion that Tatsumi was what he was then he would also understand that this was now a fight between the two of them about who it was that had Esdese on their side. And since Tatsumi thought that the prime minister had realized this, then the logical conclusion would be that the prime minister had something that he thought would make Esdese take his side in all scenarios. Without fail. Otherwise he wouldn't have betted so much on it.

Tatsumi felt uneasiness fill him but didn't let any of it show true. Calmly meeting the gaze of the prime minister. Unsure if this was his biggest success or his doom approaching.

All around him, the imperial court was in an uproar. They did not take kindly to losing most of their control and influence. Even if it was just momentarily.

"This is a cough.. cough.. travesty." the minister of internal affairs sputtered out."How do we know that this will not only create more.. cough.. cough.. panic."

"Just so." another minister called out.

"And how do we know that the military will give back the control to the people when the time comes." a third one called out. Immediately shrinking away as Esdese's eyes settled upon him. The prime minister stepped in before she got a chance to retort.

"Gentlemen, gentlemen." he called out in a soothing voice. "Calm down. This is not the case of some hostile takeover. Remember the great general's history."

Most of the court turned their attention to him as he continued. "Esdese has been helping this court and the empire's interest for as long as she has been a part of the military. She destroyed the former great general when he opposed our rigth to rule. She has since then uphold our legislations and decisions without fail. Gentlemen, Esdese is not some foreign soldier who is taking control of our dear empire. She is one of our oldest and strongest allies."

Everyone in the room knew that he meant that she was one of his oldest and strongest allies. Tatsumi looked at the prime minister as he continued to calm down the cabinet.

_I will put that to the test now_, he thought. Esdese herself had remained silent after the announcement. Standnig slightly behind the prime minister with her arms crossed over her chest. An amused smile on her face. The prime minister was however getting his cabinet in line again. Which had always been the obvious outcome. Since most of them had been bought or put there by him.

"You see my friends? There is no need for worry." he called out loudly.

"Cough.. but we don't know that for certain." the minister of internal affairs called out. The old man coughing violently. "We don't.. cough... know how cough.. cough.. the public cough.. will.." the last of the minister's complaint disappeared in a fit of violent coughing.

"Get the man some water." the prime minister said and turned his attention to the other ministers. Starting to talk about why this was the best course of action.

General Gallus started to walk over to the minister of internal affair. The man coughing heavily. "You should take it easy, minister. You're not a young man anymore." he called out his deep and friendly voice.

But before he could get close to the gallery, the old man bent over and threw up over the seats under him. Everyone in the room focused their gaze on the minister. A collection of gasps could be heard.

Because the liquid that spewed from the minister's mouth and nose was as black as oil. After the minister of internal affairs had threwn up a large amount of the liquid on those sitting beneath him, he fell over in his seat. Already dead.

The two people sitting beneath the man had both gotten their backs covered in the sticky liquid. They started to stand up but before they could get far, their bodies started to spasm heavily. Both of them falling over as their bodies struggled in panick against the foreign attack on their systems.

Esdese had only seen this black liquid once before but she recognized the feeling it gave her immediatlely. How her instincts despised it's presence.

"Morbus." she said lowly and took a couple of steps forward. Walking past the prime minister. "Get away from the liquid immediately!" she shouted in her commanding voice. Overpowering all the other noises in the room.

"What is going on?" a politician in the opposite gallery shouted. His answer came from the person sitting three seats to the left of him. The man had grown pale from the display in front of him. He tried to stop his reaction. Covering his mouth with his hands. But it didn't help much. The only result was that when the man vomitted, the black liquid that flew out from his mouth hit those sitting around him instead.

And after that, the whole room descended into chaos.

Everyone tried the shove and push to get away from those that had been touched by the liquid. Those that had already gotten some on them were either flailing around in panic, spasming on the floor or already dead. But the increased chaos only served to spread Morbus around more and more. Some more people started to vomit out the black liquid. And some of those that were covered in it tried to grab those around them. Screaming for help.

People were running down from the galleries in panic, kicking and shoving to get away from the danger. Rushing towards the door that lead out of the hall.

"Gallus! Don't let them escape." Esdese commanded. "Don't let this spread out into the palace."

Gallus immediately placed himself in front of the closed doors that the politicians were running towards. But they showed no signs of stopping because of him. He could see that many of them were carrying the black liquid. Either on their skin or on their clothes. He realized that he would most likely get the black liquid on himself if he let them get to close.

"By god be purged!" he roared and smashed his giant warhammer down into the floor in front of him. Calling upon the power of his teigu.

From the point where he had stiked his hammer down, a giant wave of fire emerged, moving out in front of him in a cone. Engulfing those that were running towards the doors. Incinerating them in a matter of seconds. The panicked and tortured screams of the dying barely made the volume in the room go up. The riot in the room was already completely engulfing.

Esdese leaped down from the podium on the other side of the hall. She looked at how the black liquid was spreading from the bodies on the floor. She noted how it streamed in all directions. Even moving upwards the small slope in the rooms floor. Fighting against gravity in order to reach new flesh.

She had seen quite enough. She went down on one knee and put her hand against the floor. Mustering a considerable amount of her teigu's power. In the blink of an eye she froze all the corpses and all the black liquid in the room. Along with some of the dying ministers. Sealing them all in ice. Stopping Morbus in it's tracks.

Even after that it took a good ten minutes before the room became still once again. By then, Esdese had freezed two more politicians and Gallus had been forced to burn another small group of them. When order finally was established, only three of the forty ministers were still alive.

Esdese looked around in the now silent room. The stench of burnt flesh filling it. The prime minister was nowhere to be seen. He seemed to have escaped the room early on. Through some hidden or secret passage. Since Gallus had refused to let anyone leave through the doors.

She looked around in the room for some moments. "Tatsumi?" she called out.

After some moments Tatsumi emerged out of thin air. Some meters beside the doors. Deactivating Incursio's invisibility. Esdese smiled and nodded at him in relief.

Gallus walked up to Esdese. Resting his giant warhammer on his shoulder. "What is going on? What happened?" he asked and looked around in the room. The three remaining ministers sat huddled in corner. Terrified and sobbing.

"It seems like the pillager has destroyed the imperial court." Tatsumi said and walked up to them. Working hard to subdue his glee.

"But how?" Gallus asked and looked around them. Witnessing the grim scene. Burnt bodies lay in a circle around the door he had guarded. The res of the imperial court were strewed out over the floor. With exception of those that were frozen solid.

"He worked closely with the cabinet after he returned from his war at the western borders." Esdese said in irritation. "He told me so himself during Budo's last meeting. He infected them back then. Just as he did with Tatsumi. Just that these weaklings didn't have the stregth to resist it, unlike Tatsumi."

"This is horrible." Gallus said. "Now we don't have any goverment that the military can return the power to."

Tatsumi looked at Esdese. "Looks like you will be holding the reins for a little bit longer than expected." he said with a smile.

Esdese sighed heavily and covered half her face with a hand. She was not looking forward to all the administrative work she would have to do. And even worse, Makeias had delivered another devastating blow to her nation. Right under her nose.

"I will make the pillager pay for this." Esdese said. Her eyes growing more terrifying. "I will see to it that all the things he loves is destroyed before he dies."

Tatsumi nodded and looked out over the room as Gallus went down on his knees and started to pray for the dead.

Tatsumi had dreamed of a scenario like this one for so long but now that it was here, it didn't matter anymore. Because Esdese was already the one in power. Though it did give him a dark satisfaction to know that the imperial court was gone. Even if Makeias didn't realize it, he had sealed the fate of the empire to a single struggle of who could win Esdese over to their side. Tatsumi or the prime minister.

And Tatsumi had a bad feeling that the prime minister had a rather nasty card hidden in his sleeve.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**And the chaos has begun. Unlike Garu or the great general arc, in this part of the story, the action will be spread out over the rest of the arc, instead of just being focused into the last chapters. Should be exciting****. When I wrote the Garu arc, I was always looking forward to writing the "Between" chapters(the battle itself). When it comes to this arc, what will begin in the next chapter is what I have been looking forward to the most to writing.**

**Thanks to all of you for having patience with my delays. I miss most of my deadlines with a couple of days right now but I still need to make them. I'm afraid that I will lose my productivity otherwise. So expect the next one in 10(11-13) days.**

**As always, thanks for reading and thanks for all the comments and reviews. They really make this enjoyable for me.**

**Until next time, take care of each other.**


	28. Tipping point

**This took a bit longer than usual due to the fact that this turned into a really big chapter.**

* * *

**Tipping point**

"Extreme forms of sadism sometimes stems from a troubled childhood or an anti-social psychosis." Tatsumi read loudly. Lying sideways on the bed in their chambers. His head hanging of it's side. His body tucked into the covers. Holding the book up over him. "Would you say that you had a traumatic childhood?"

"What is traumatic or not depends on the person in question." Esdese answered without leaving her report with her eyes. She was sitting at the room's only desk. Reading through diffrent reports and writing down footnotes. Her cap lying on the table beside her. For once she was actually wearing casual clothes and not her uniform. Having a long sweater on her that reached down to the middle of her thighs. "I faced many challenges when I grew up but they didn't defeat me. Physically or mentally. You are on the wrong track either way, Tatsumi. I had these interests long before I lost my family."

Tatsumi turned some pages in his book. He did this sometimes. Reading through books about psychology and sadism. Trying to understand more about Esdese. Trying to learn why she was like she was. But the books had never really helped him in any constructive way. "Sadism is often linked to an urge dominate or overpower someone else." he continued to read out loudly.

"Well... obviously." Esdese said and turned over a page in one of the reports. It was already quite late into the night.

"Many people with sadistic tendencies often fantasize about being able to completly oppress and torment someone else." Tatsumi said. "Sounds familiar?" he asked sarcastically as he skipped ahead some in the book.

"It seems like it must be really frustrating to just leave your desires in your fantasies." Esdese answered as her pencil moved over the paper in front of her.

"It is called restraint. Most people practice it." Tatsumi said. Continuing with his sarcasm.

"Very funny." Esdese said. "But it does seem quite pathetic to only let your dreams remain as dreams. If you have an urge, you should act on it."

"Most people realize at some stages that they can't achieve their wildest fantasies. So then pursuing them would only cause you sadness in the end. Since you know that you are going to fail." Tatsumi said. "Most normal people have to put some moderation on their hopes. Otherwise it will crush them when they fail."

"Weaklings." Esdese simply answered and dwelled deeper into her work.

"Most are when compared to you." Tatsumi said and read on.

"Mhhm." Esdese mumbled absentmindedly. Focusing on her reports for the moment.

Tatsumi read for some minutes before he spoke again. "Hey, did you know that many sadists actually develop their character traits in order to defeat an inner insecurity?"

"Mhmm." Esdese repeated. Not really listening to him. Her attention on her reading.

"Yeah. Wrong again. I know." Tatsumi said. Well aware that he didn't have her attention at the moment. He wondered why he did this sometimes. Even if he did manage to determine why Esdese was like she was, it would not change her. She was who she was. She would break before she bent. He had learned that a long time ago. Yet his curiosity made him read on.

Esdese herself was starting to reach a conclusion. After another fifteen minutes of reading in silence, she closed the last report and put down her pencil. She straightened up with a triumphant sigh and stretched her arms over her head.

While she hadn't solved the issue, she had managed to reason around it. She had managed to get a good read on the situation.

She had been reading reports about the few times when they had managed to engage or capture some of the pillager's forces. The pattern in their success hadn't been that hard to find when you really looked into it. They had only managed to actually fight the pillager's forces five times. All small skirmishes and all of them had happened as the result of some mistake on their part.

It had either been because their troops had misinterpreted their orders, because the orders given to them were not the correct ones or because the troops had made mistakes and traveled in the wrong direction. Normally this would just be intepreted as a string of coincidences but not here. The pattern was too consistent.

They had ordered hundreds of units to search for Makeias' army in diffrent places. They had commanded thousands of soldiers to defend diffrent important towns and cities. Yet Makeias always avoided them and always striked where they were defenseless. It was far beyond the possiblities of mere chance. Makeias' forces had known about the movements and plans of the imperial military long before they were put into action.

The fact that all the times they had fought with his forces had been unplanned on their part only strengthened that theory.

Esdese had long suspected that Makeias had some kind of spy placed high up in the military. Most people that had any connection with him in the empire had been executed as a result of his betrayal. But now it was clear to Esdese that they had missed one. And probably the most important one.

The hundreds of orders they had given out had been encoded and sent from diffrent parts of the military. Yet the pillager's mole had been able to inform him about all of them. Which meant that the spy was placed somewhere close to the imperial court. Since that was the bottleneck.

And since the imperial court was no more, Esdese's list of suspects grew a lot smaller. It needed to be someone that had access to all of these operations. And someone far removed from the usual list of suspects. Not that she had any idea of who it might be. But she was sure that the spy existed now. She would speak to the prime minister about it, the first thing in the morning. She did not trust a courier with this information. If Makeias' mole had complete surveillance of their information network, then a written message like that might make it go into hiding. She would bide her time.

"Ohh, here it says that some people's sadism actually goes down if their libido is weakened. Sometimes sadistic traits disappear if people lose their sexual appetite." Tatsumi said. He looked towards Esdese and found her suddenly standing right beside the bed. A decimeter from his head. Looking down at him.

"Why do you read all these books in order to understand my nature, Tatsumi?" she said with a smile. "I have already told you that I will answer any questions that you have about me."

"Okay." Tatsumi said and closed the book. Looking up at her. Her thighs were very close to his head. "Why are you so sadistic, Esdese?"

"Because I enjoy it. Because that is how I feel." she said and looked down at him over her breasts.

"Not very informative I'm afraid. I didn't really learn anything new from that."

"What more do you need to know? Everything else seems irrelevant." she said and started to sit down beside him.

"You know, Esdese, for a person as inquisitive as yourself, it can sometimes be suprising just how much of a psycopath you are."

Esdese looked at him when she was sitting down beside his head. "Are you calling me psychologically impaired?"

"Impaired is a broad word."

Tatasumi looked at her for some moments after that. Unsure if he had stepped over the line. Esdese just returned his gaze with an empty expression. Not really annoyed with his slight insult but she could see a small glint of fear in his eyes. And that kickstarted her predatory instincts. A smile spread out over her face. Wide and full of sharp teeth. Her eyes got a dangerous character to them.

Her smile hadn't even spread out fully before Tatsumi was retreating. Immediately jumping in under the covers and starting to crawl away across the bed.

"Ooh no you don't!" Esdese called out excitedly and stretched out after him. Her hands grabbing hold of his waist. She moved up on the bed and stood on her knees as she pulled him back to her.

"It was only a joke." Tatsumi shouted as he clawed at the sheets. Trying and failing to stop being dragged back. When his thighs were between her knees, her hands moved up and placed themselves on the back of his chest instead. Pressing him down into the bed to hold him in place.

"You're really trying to be funny tonight huh, Tatsumi?" Esdese said. Getting an idea. "Let me help you bring forth some laughter."

With those words she let go of his body and drew away the covers. Revealing Tatsumi's naked body to the cool air. Tatsumi immediately started to turn around but as soon as he had, Esdese's hands grabbed his wrists and pulled them up above his head. Holding them there for some moments as she smiled menacingly at his face.

"No pain." Tatsumi said and looked her in the eyes.

"Are you challenging me?" Esdese whispered. Moving closer to his face. "Cause that sounded like a demand, my sweet little Tatsumi."

"It was a plead. I was only joking."

Esdese moved up a little bit. Closing her eyes. "You insult me. Do you really think I would hurt you over something so minuscule."

"Well..." Tatsumi began.

"I told you already, Tatsumi." Esdese interrupted him. "I will only bring you laughter." she said softly and one of her hands left the hold on his wrists. Her remaining one more than strong enough to hold his arms in place. The free hands very lighthly trailed down his arm, down to his shuolder and then down towards his chest.

Tatsumi realized what was going to happen. "Ok ok ok, wait just a minute." he said but didn't manage to get much further before Esdese started to tickle him. With merciless precision.

Tatsumi laughed and hissed as her hand deftly started to move around his body. It didn't take more than a minute before he had lost all sorts of restraint.

"Stop it! Stop it!" he squaeled through his laughs.

"Who is impaired, Tatsumi? Who is?" Esdese almost shouted back at him. Her expression excited and malicious.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Tatsumi screamed.

This was not the first time this had happened. Tatsumi knew from experience what one of these sessions could become.

Esdese had once told him that she had experimented with tickling as a torture method that didn't involve pain in a direct way. Esdese said that she had actually managed to make some people completly break down to the edge of insanity by using drugs to enhance their senses and then tickle them relentlessly for some hours. And Tatsumi believed her. She was so quick to pick up on which spots she should use and how hard or soft she should be. It didn't help that she already knew every detail of his body and how it reacted to things.

Tears were starting to pour down his face as he laughed so hard that he had to hiss for air. He could see how Esdese was comlpetely into it. Her smile sadistic and her cheeks red.

"Beg for it, Tatsumi! Beg me for it!" she shouted at him.

"I beg you! Please, please! I beg you." Tatsumi howled.

"What do you beg me for Tatsumi?" she called out cruelly. "You didn't specify."

"Please stop tickling me!" he managed to get out between squeals.

"Nope!" she called out loudly. His pleadings only egging her on. "Don't feel like it." she exclaimed as her hand's movement became even faster. Moving from diffrent places across his body with lightning speed.

Tatsumi pressed his heels into the bed and started to trash around violently. Pushing his body around under her. But Esdese simply closed her thighs around his stomach and rode him as he moved about. Tiring him out like a rider would tire a wild horse. Continuing to tickle him as she did. Tatsumi's fingers clawing holes in the bedclothes under Esdese's grip.

For a short while, Tatsumi managed to get one of his hands free from her iron grip while Esdese was playing around with his neck. Making him move his head around to try and stop her hand from tickling his neck. Always being a little bit too slow. But he did manage to get one of his hands free while her attention was directed at that.

When he got his arm free he didn't quite know what to do with it. His mind in chaos from all the stimulation. He just tried to push her away. Which reulted in him grabbing one of her breasts through her sweater. Squeezing it harshly. Making Esdese draw a sharp breath. Her free hand immediately went down and rammed it's nails into his armpit. Making him draw his arm back and push it against his side in an attempt to protect himself. And when he did, Esdese grabbed the arm as it came back and returned it too her other hand's grip. Resuming with the tickling after that.

Ten minutes after that, Tatsumi's struggling had gotten a lot less violent. A lot of his immediate energy depleted. His laughs sounded more like sobs. His throat coarse from all the strain. Esdese's hand momentarily stopped it's activity. She smiled down at him with satisfaction. His entire body was sweaty and the tears were still pouring from his eyes. He panted as if he had run a mile.

She bowed down and put her face on the side of his head. Looking at him from the side. "You said something about me not having any restraint earlier, Tatsumi." she said in a sweet and gentle tone. Her free hand momentarily still at his chest. "So if I don't have any restraint, then what do you think is going to happen now?"

"You know that I was only joking." Tatsumi managed to get out between breaths.

"Ohh so you do think that I have some restraint in how I conduct myself?"

"You know the answer to.." Tatsumi said but interrupted himself as her fingers touched his chest again. "You do! You do!" he exclaimed quickly.

Esdese smiled and nodded at him.

"When I was young, I once actually killed a little boy like this." she said and straightened. Sitting up on his stomach. "Though I didn't really mean to."

"You tickled someone to death?" Tatsumi wheezed.

Esdese nodded. "He was so cute. I couldn't stop myself from messing with him a little. Sadly he had a rather weak physique. He got a heartattack when I drove him on more harshly. Which he didn't survive."

Tatsumi gave her a dark look. "Monster." he panted.

"Yeah, I will admit, that was rather sloppy of me. I didn't even intend to hurt him. Just mess with him. Back then I hadn't yet realized that not everyone had the same physique as me. I was very young."

Tatsumi's breathing was starting to slow down again. Even if he was still very sweaty. Esdese bent down over him again, putting her forehead against his. Staring at his eyes. "He actually looked a lot like you. He had the same beautiful green eyes as you do."

"Does that mean that you are going to tickle me to death?"

"I doubt that I could. You are too strong. Though I could probably make you lose your sanity a little."

Tatsumi just panted and stared at her. Esdese looked at him for a little while. Still smiling. Her sadistic urges had gotten a little bit of satisfaction from that but having a red faced, teary-eyed Tatsumi under her awoke other needs in her as well.

Esdese reached down and pulled her sweater over her head. Throwing it to the side. She was not wearing anything under it at all.

Tatsumi looked at her carnal beauty. She didn't shy away from his gaze. Proudly and confidently showing off for him. She knew the sway her natural charms had on his body. Sadly it had never been enough to make his mind abandon it's convictions. He had always been able to control himself. Barely.

Not that it mattered. She prefered to be the one who was on the offence either way. She could count the times when she hadn't been the one with the initiative on her hand.

Tatsumi's breathing was finally slowing down as one of her hands came down and placed itself on his chest. Slowly opening and closing. Clawing at him. "Not satisfied yet?" he asked.

"I rarely am." Esdese said and lowered herself down over him. So that she was lying on top of him lengthwise."You don't have any objections, do you?"

"Does it matter if I do?" he asked rhetorically as Esdese put and elbow on his chest. Resting her head in the arm's hand as she looked down at him.

"No." she answered plainly. "Besides, I can already feel something warm that is starting to poke me on the belly."

"Well, can't really do anything about that. Just a physical reaction." he said and smiled up at her.

She returned the smile. "Why do you deny your own nature so much, Tatsumi? I know that you want me. I would have felt it even without your manhood so aggressively seeking my attention."

"I think there are few men that wouldn't have the same reaction in this scenario."

"Maybe you just like to struggle a bit." Esdese thought out loudly. Ignoring what he said. "Maybe you just like to be overpowered and dominated by me."

"Sorry. I am not a machocist."

"Never said that you were." she said as her eyes returned to his. "But I can tell that you enjoy our more intimate moments. Even if I often take you a bit forcefully."

"It is a wonder that you didn't rape me back at that island or down in the dungeons." Tatsumi said with a crooked smile.

Esdese just shook her head at him. Smiling. "The most important thing to me in our relationship, is that I have you. That you are mine. After that, it is your love and affection that I most desire. I would not risk driving you further away before I knew that I had those first two." she calmly explained and moved some of her hair away. "But now that I know that I have those, I will gladly help myself to some of my privileges as your mate." she said and reached down with a hand. Tatsumi drew a deep breath as she grabbed his erection in a hard hold.

Esdese's eyes smiled at him. "I love this. I have such control over you. Your body follows my own so obediently. Though it seems like your mind is not as easily controlled."

"You would like it if it was, wouldn't you?" Tatusmi asked tauntingly.

"I am not sure that I would." Esdese said. "Half the joy of dominating you is that I get to push you around. It's not as fun to be the dominating one if you don't get to crush your opposition." As if to put further emphazise on her words, she pressed her elbow a bit furthed down. Forcing his chest down into the mattress. "Complete control would be boring."

"That is probably the worst possible reason to be against a totalitarian rule. But fine, I'll take it."

"Ohh you will take it. You will take it and you will like it." she reached down and placed her mouth over his. Moving her tongue into his mouth. They stayed like that for a while. Esdese lying on top of him. Enjoying the feeling of pushing him down under her. Squeezing his manhoood in her hand. Every now and then to the point when it hurt. Tatsumi's groans muffled by her own mouth and tongue. Her kissing only intensifying with each moan.

After a little while Tatsumi's breathing grew a bit rougher and more flustered. Esdese could tell that he was getting close. Her hand let go of him and she shifted herself on top of him. Positioning herself. She moved her mouth away from him. Soaking in his expression as she lowered herself on him. Tatsumi muffling his gasp as his member entered her.

Esdese shuddered in delight both from the sensation and Tatsumi's reaction. She looked at him for some moments but then just lied down on top of him again. Wrapping her arms around him. Squeezing him against her body as she started to grind against him. Holding him down under her. His face buried in her chest. Pressing him down into the bed as her strong and rythmic movements began.

Tatsumi peaked long before her. Having already been pressed close to the edge when he entered her. Tatsumi gasped and a slight moan escaped him as his body flexed. Grabbing her butt and pressing his hips harder against hers. Reflexively trying to reach deeper inside of her during his moment. But Esdese didn't change her rythm. Focusing on her own pleasure. Holding Tatsumi in an iron hard hug while she rubbed her entire body against his. Not allowing him to move around or change much.

But it didn't take long for her breath to become ragged. And the grinding grew harder and intenser. A couple of minutes after that she reached her own climax. Squeezing him so hard that Tatsumi yelped out involuntarily. Believing that she was going to break his ribcage. But as always, Esdese stopped just before she caused any lasting damage.

She held him hard against herself as she reveled in the sexual glory of her orgasm. Taking deep breaths through her clenched teeth. Her smile bestial. After staying like that for a long while, she finally lightened her hold on Tatsumi. She let go of him and rolled down beside him. Her breathing heavy. Lying on her back and looking up at the ceiling.

Tatsumi himself was extremly sweaty. Breathing heavily himself. Having been unable to breath as Esdese squeezed him. He turned his head over towards her. She could feel his gaze and turned her head towards him. Smiling.

"You okay over there?" Tatsumi asked after some moments.

Esdese didn't answer. She just looked at him and then reached out with an arm. Wrapping it around his head. Bringing him close. So that his head was resting on her shoulder.

"This is just how it should be." she said in a satisfied voice. "This is perfect."

Tatsumi just smiled and reached an arm around her. Hugging her lightly. They stayed silent like that for a long time before Tatsumi spoke up.

"Hey."

"Mmhh?"

"Thanks for standing up for me regarding the emperor's death." Tatsumi said silently.

Esdese chuckled lightly and ran her fingers through his hair. "Do you honestly believe that I would ever let some special police force lay hands on you." A partly sinister and partly satisfied smile spread on her face as she put her chin against the top of his head. "Don't be silly."

"Yeah. I kind of knew that already. But it still makes me happy."

Esdese smile grew wider. "It is apparent that many in the empire are annoyed that I have stepped in their way. Hoping that this was their chance to take you from me. But just the thought of it is ridiculous. Did they really believe that I would just step aside and let them drag you off to the torture chambers that I reign over. To use interrogation technics and torture methods on you that I invented."

She sighed but the sound of it was neither sad or annoyed. "Fools. All of them. Even if you had been guilty, they should have realized that it was not going to go down like that."

Tatsumi squeezed her a little tighter. "Thank you."

She looked down at him and patted his head. "Just stay close to me, Tatsumi. I will never let anybody else hurt you." she said. Repeating the same phrase she had said so many times before.

"Lucky for me then that you are such a innocent creature yourself." Tatsumi said sarcastically.

"I believe that the saying is "Love hurts"."

"Convenient for you." Tatsumi said.

Esdese giggled. "Well, I am a sadist. That I have no problem to admit. Though I am not a psychopath."

"Yeah.. I know." Tatsumi sighed. "Your perception of the world around you is just the same as everyone else. You just form diffrent relations to what is happening around you than most others. You don't have a brain dysfunction. You're just a clear sociopath."

"Wait.. you're still saying that I am psychologically impaired, aren't you?"

"Impaired is broad word. It might-gihhhh!" Tatsumi was interrupted as Esdese drew her nails into the sides of his chest once again.

"All right, I will only suffer so much sass from you, my sweet little Tatsumi." she exclaimed and started to roll over with him in her arms.

Tatsumi smiled and was about to retort but Esdese's hands suddenly grew ice-cold and caused him to yelp out instead.

"So how should I teach you a lesson, huh?" she called out happily. A smile on her face. "Maybe a refreshing freeze. Or maybe a good, long and hard session of spanking."

Tatsumi didn't respond until he had managed to get Esdese's now freezingly cold hands away from his chest. Grabbing her wrists and forcing them away.

"Ohh you don't want the ice?" Esdese almost shouted. "Spanking it is then."

"Mercy!" Tatsumi exclaimed with a smile as she started to wrestle with him. Both of them starting to play around. They would both think back to this evening many times in the coming future. When their relationship had been reduced to a shell of what it once had been.

* * *

The sky was slowly getting brighter but the sun had not yet risen over the horizon as Wave made his way through Makeias' camp. He had recieved the letter just half an hour ago. One of his captains waking him up from his slumber. He had then immediately gotten dressed and left his cabin. Leaving his ship and walking ashore. Into the camp that his fleet was stationed beside. One of the main encampments of Makeias' army.

He had gotten a fair bit into the camp and passed a lot of guards before Kurome catched up to him. Running to him from the ships. Having only learned that he had left a while after he had.

"Why didn't you wake me?" was the first thing she said. Her voice colored with irritation.

"Ahh good morning, Kurome." Wave said and scratched the back of his head.

"Why didn't you wake me?" she repeated and looked at him with anger.

"Didn't think it was necessary." Wave said and shrugged. "I was only gonna walk over to Makeias' camp. It's not like anything is going to happen here."

"Idiot." Kurome said and fell in beside him. "A good assassin only strikes when you are unprepared." she said. Her annoyance clear in her tone.

"Come on. We are surrounded by thousands of Makeias' soldiers." Wave said in an apologetic way. "You're exaggerating. It is safe here."

"I have seen successful assassination attempts in far more unlikely scenarios. And you have at least read about them."

Wave looked at her and was about to dismiss her warnings when she met his gaze. He only need to look at her eyes to see that she was really angry. He turned his gaze down to the ground as he continued to walk. "Sorry."

Kurome nodded. "Wake me next time. It is always better to be two."

Wave nodded. "Will do!"

"Besides..." Kurome said and looked around them.

"What?" Wave said and followed her gaze. But he didn't find anyhting out of the ordinary. Just campfires and tents. Some sleepy guards and early working attendants.

Kurome moved in a little bit closer to him. "..you shouldn't trust the pillager so much."

"Ohh, here we go again." Wave said and sighed.

"I mean it." she whispered angrily at him. "He keeps too many secrets. He openly admits that he isn't telling us everything."

"That could be sign of trust in and of itself, you know? I mean it's not like we have been completely open to him about everything either. It isn't necessary for our alliance."

Kurome was silent for some moments but then shook her head. "I don't like it. Can't you feel it? I feel sick just being near him. This isn't good for us."

Wave looked up at the brightening sky for some moments and thought about the situation. Even if his perceptive instincts weren't as finely tuned as hers, he still knew what she was talking about. Makeias had changed since Garu. Though not in his behaviour or in how he acted. It was something else. Wave could tell as soon as he got close. His instincts warned him of the pillager. And not in the same sense as they did when he felt Esdese's fury or a dangerous situation. His instincts simply told him that he should stay away from the pillager. As if the man's entire existence was unhealthy.

And if he felt like that he could only imagine what Kurome experienced. He looked at her for some moments.

"You don't have to come with me to this meeting." he said after a little while.

"Yes I do." she said bluntly.

"No you don't. I can guess how much you dislike this idea."

"All the more reason for me to tag along." she said determinately. Finishing the discussion.

Wave looked at her for some moments as they walked in silence. "Thanks." he finally said silently. Kurome didn't answer. Keeping her annoyed gaze forward. When he didn't get a response, Wave reacehed down and grabbed her hand as they walked on. He kept his gaze directed foward as they moved through the camp. Unable to see that the simple act had melted all the irritation from Kurome's face.

Ten minutes later they had arrived at Makeias' tent. The only thing that marked the slightly bigger tent from those around it were the guards that stood stationed outside. Tall and slender. Impossible to mistake. Two of them obstructed their path as they walked towards the opening of the tent. Making Kurome and Wave halt themselves.

"Sorry for the late visit, soldiers." Wave said with a smile. "But I need to meet Makeias. Immediately."

The two slender figures looked down at Wave and Kurome with curiosity but they didn't answer.

"Guys?" Wave asked after a good ten seconds of silence had passed. He could not sense or see any hostility from the two giants in front of them. Even if they both were wearing the long and slim swords that all Makeias' personal guards wore. Strapped over each other on their backs. Mimicking how Makeias wore his spears during combat. Wave looked past them. There was light streaming from the tent's opening and he could hear a silent discussion from within.

He was about to speak again when the two guards simple turned in opposite directions and walked away. Wave just stood dumbfounded for some moments. Then Tom-Tom's deep and slow voice called out to him from within the tent.

"Enter when you wish, little Wave."

Wave immediately walked forward and entered the tent. Moving the flap away with an arm. Kurome following him.

The insides of the big tent were pretty well lit up. It seemed like they had been awake in there for a while. Wave was not suprised. It seemed like Makeias didn't sleep that much.

The man in question was sitting on a chair in the other end of the tent. His back turned against Wave and Kurome. He wasn't wearing his destroyed longcoat so he was basically only sitting in his cargo pants. Which would have been revealing if his entire body wasn't covered in bandages and belts. Usually only his hands and feet were exempt from the white cloth but this time his right arm was also revealed. The bandages ending at his shoulder. Some tubes were inserted into the arm. The arm itself was so pale that it almost looked green.

He had three people standing around him. Two were medics from his forces. Dressed in white coats. Standing between him and a big table filled with papers, medical tools, and diffrent looking glass containers. The third one was Tom-Tom. Which was the only one facing them. Since the doctors seemed to be talking to Makeias.

"It isn't separating at all." one of the doctors said. "It seems like the liquid has completly fused with your blood."

"And it remains passive in some sort of way?" Makeias asked and looked at the doctor.

The man nodded at him. "It is in some sort of dormant form."

"Shouldn't my liver be working like crazy right now?" Makeias asked. "I mean, my blood seems to be more poison than anything else."

"Sorry, sir." the other doctor said. "We can not find any activity whatsoever from your liver. It is most likely dead."

Makeias looked at the white robed man for some seconds. "So I just have a dead organ in place for my liver."

"Most likely."

"Then why haven't I fallen over dead. What is cleaning my blood?"

"We have reason to believe that Morbus is eating up and consuming anything that isn't beneficial to you body." the doctor said. "It seems like the teigu has taken complete control of you blood system. As well as some of your digestive functions."

"Lovely." Makeias said bitterly.

"That is not all, sir." the other doctor said and walked up to him.

"The tissue?" Makeias asked and looked at the man.

The other man nodded and gave him a clipboard. Makeias looked at it for some moments. "Gods.." he said silently after a little while. They stood silent like that for a while before Makeias spoke again. "We are done for today. Come back tomorrow for the follow up."

The doctors nodded and started to walk out of the tent. Makeias rose up from the chair. "Sorry for the wait, Wave. I had some things to finish up." he said without turning around. Pulling some of the tubes out of his arm.

"Don't worry about it, sir. More importantly, is everything okay?" Wave said. Sounding genuinely concerned.

"It seems like the trade I made in Garu was a big one." Makeias said and smiled over his shoulder at the younger man. "My body has changed quite a bit."

"Is that a bad thing, sir?"

"To be honest I don't know." He looked at his arm as he closed and opened it's hand a couple of times. "I have stopped aging."

Wave stood in silence for some moments. His mouth open."That's amazing." he finally said.

"I don't know about that. The cells in my tissue has almost stopped replicating. As if my body was already dead. But I am still not fading. Strangely enough."

"Why is that not amazing? Aren't you basically immortal now? At least from the effects of time." Wave asked.

Makeias looked at Wave for the first time since he had entered. Smiling. "I am still human, Wave. My time is finite no matter how you look at it. It just seems like the teigu has some other plans for my body."

"What do you mean?"

"All teigus have a will of their own, Wave. At least to some small extent. Even if they might not be sentient. And Morbus is no exception. Morbus strives to cause decay. In whatever way it can. It is it's only drive and it's only purpose. Doesn't matter if it is the decay of morals, structures or just of the flesh. It will probably revel in it's own decay and destruction when that time comes. So you can understand that it is worrying when the teigu is starting to change my physique. For whatever plans it might have."

Wave went silent after that. It was actually Kurome that spoke up first.

"How bad is it?" she asked in a hard voice.

Makeias looked a little suprised to see Kurome talk to him. It was vey rare "Not too bad yet. I am still in full control. The teigu has been unable to influence my will at all."

"But it is starting to change your body. Shouldn't that be enough warning that you should seal the teigu away." Kurome pressed on.

"Everything that Morbus has taken from me are things I have given it in exchange for power. I will just have to be a bit more careful from now on." Makeias said calmly while walking over to one of the tables. Omitting the fact that he now knew that he would die without the teigu. But Kurome could tell that he was hiding something. She kept quiet for the rest of the meeting.

"Anyway," Makeias said and picked up a roll of bandages from the table. "what brings you here so early in the morning, Wave?"

"We got a message during the night." Wave said and picked forth a letter from his coat.

Makeias turned around and leaned on the table. Starting to wrap his arm up in bandages again. "Go on."

"It's from Akame of the night raid. She wants to negotiate an alliance between us and the revolutionary army." Wave said and steadily met Makeias' gaze. Beside him Kurome's eyes widened. Thinking about her sister. She had not been aware of this.

"Have you been in contact with night raid in the later days?" Makeias said. Looking more suprised than anything.

"Not really but they know how to contact me." Wave lied. "I sent out some messages to them just after I left the empire."

Makeias reached out with the hand that was wrapped up in white cloth. Gesturing for Wave to give him the letter. Wave walked up to him and did. The tent was silent as Makeias read through the message.

"They want a direct meeting with the both of us." Makeias said slowly.

Wave nodded.

When Makeias had read through the letter two times he put it down on the table. "And you want us to attend it?"

"I think we have to, general." Wave said. "How can we not give this a chance. The emperor is dead and the imperial court is gone. If we ally with the revolutionary movement right now then that might very well be the end of the empire."

Makeias just looked at Wave for a little while. The young man really looked like the admiral that he was. Wearing the black cloak that Esdese had given him. One of his eyes covered up by the black piece of coth that was wrapped around his head. His hair wild."Do you trust night raid, Wave?"

"They have opposed the empire for years and are now desperate to capitalize on the empire's moment of weakness. Well aware that they are too weak to make it count on their own. I think they are really hoping that we join them. Genuinely."

"And why do they then require us to attend the meeting personally?" Makeias said and looked at Wave as he finished bandaging his arm.

"I think it is a reasonable demand." Wave said. "You demanded the same of me when we started our alliance."

"And I was suprised that you accepted. I would have settled for one of your representatives. Do you think night raid will be fine with just getting a messenger from us?"

Wave thought about that for some moments. "I think it is an uneccesary risk. I believe that they really want an alliance with us. And I think that we are jeopardizing what could be the fall of the empire by not accepting their invitation personally."

"I can't prove that you are wrong, Wave. But I think there is more to this invitation than just some friendly negotiations."

"So you will not go?" Wave asked. Makeias waited a moment before he answered.

"Let's get to the core of things, Wave. How much do you want this to happen?" he finally asked. "Enough to change your allegiances?"

"What do you mean?" Wave asked in an empty voice.

"You have already had contacts with the revolutionary army that I didn't know about." Makeias said and took a couple of steps towards Wave. "You have mentioned before that I need to change my procedures if our alliance is going to continue. So I ask you Wave, what will happen if I say no? Will you be more prone to changing sides then?"

Makeias had walked up to Wave, standing a meter from him. Kurome was paying absolute attention to the situation. Even if the pillager wasn't wearing a weapon, it was all she could do to not put a hand on her teigu's hilt. Wave however, seemed calmer. He stayed silent for some moments. Looking at Makeias.

"Yes, it might." he finally said. Not easing the tension in the tent. "Don't misunderstand me." he hastily continued. "I am not saying that I will betray you if you don't go to this meeting. But if our ideas of what is best to do is going to diffrentiate everytime we have a choice in front of us, then I don't see why we should be allies. It doesn't help any one of us."

Makeias nodded. "A good point." he said and turned around. Walking back to the table. "I want you to know that your allegiance is very valuable to me."

"Valuable enough for you to attend this meeting?" Wave carefully asked.

Makeias sighed lightly. "Yeah, probably."

Wave was taken back a bit by that. He had not expected this to work out. "Wait... you serious?"

Makeias looked at Wave over his shoulder. "Go to your ship and reply to that message. Tell them that we accept their invitation. Ask them for the details of this meeting. We will decide about our more precise course of action after that."

Wave couldn't help but smile. He bowed down deeply. "Thank you, general. I will do so immediately." he exlcaimed.

"I am not a general anymore, Wave." Makeias answered with a tired smile.

Wave ignored him. "Thank you for valuing our alliance this much."

Makeias just nodded at the joyful young man as he turned around and marched out of the tent. Tom-Tom watched how the two visitors left.

"One would have thought that awakening to the state of the empire would have cured some of his naivety." the giant man slowly said.

"A tiger doesn't change his stripes." Makeias said and put on his ruined coat.

"What?" Tom-Tom asked and looked at him.

"Nothing. Just something someone once told me. But you are right. Wave is still very naive. Luckily for him, we are not."

* * *

Esdese opened the large doors and calmly entered the meeting hall.

"It was good of you to contact me, great general." The prime minister said as she walked up to the table he was sitting at. He was the only person in the room. "We have something very important that we need to discuss."

"Indeed." Esdese said as she sat down on the other side of the table. "I think that we have a mole hiding in the upper parts of the empire."

"I do as well." the prime minister said lowly. Thinking about something diffrent.

"I have read up on our struggles against the pillager and it seems like he is tapping into all of our information networks. After reading all the reports I have concluded that it is the only possibility." she said as she sat down into a chair.

"Are you certain? We have already examined all those at the top very carefully. Following the emperor's death." the prime minister asked and scratched his beard.

"Not careful enough. We will need to search again." Esdese said with her usual confidence.

The prime minister nodded slowly. "I think that we need to lay out a bait in that case. I don't think further searches will give much results."

"A bait?" Esdese asked.

"Yeah. A false order or something of that nature. We give many diffrent people diffrent orders. And then we see which one of them Makeias will react to. Then we will know who it is that is giving him the information."

Esdese nodded and smiled at the big man in a dark way. "You really know how to take care of problems like this."

"Well, I wouldn't be sitting here if I didn't." he said.

"Reasonably." Esdese agreed.

They were silent for a little while after that. The prime minister carefully studying her before he went on. "Great general, you do know how important you are to this empire, right?"

Esdese just looked at him. Unsure of where he was heading.

"The empire that we have created would most likely fall without you. I could probably not do this alone. Probably."

She gave him a questioning expression. It was unusual for the man to act emotionally when it was just the two of them. He usually dropped all the charades when he was alone with her. Always being down to buisness.

"You are my most valuable ally, Esdese. You know that right?" he said and looked at her.

Esdese moved some of her hair away. "Are you getting sentimental on me, old man." she said and smiled at him. "I always thougth our relationship was more business oriented."

"It is." The big man said and nodded to himself. "But I still want you to know your value. And that your loyalty is appreciated."

"I am not loyal in order to get gratitude." Esdese said calmly. "It is more a matter of who I want to be."

"Even so. It is appreciated."

"I know. I know." Esdese chuckled lightly. "Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed, today? You're being awfully emotional."

"I wish it was that simple." the prime minister said in a sad voice and rose up.

He had wanted too wait with this for a little while longer. He wanted to not make this reveal so dramatic. He had wanted it to happen more slowly. But now the imperial court was gone. The only grip he had on the rule of the empire was through Esdese. He couldn't play around with such a big risk. He needed to finish off his opponent quickly. Giving his enemy more time might lead to his own ruin. Without knowing it, Makeias had forced the prime minister's hand.

The prime minister started to walk around the table. Bringing forth a folder from his coat. His file about Tatsumi.

* * *

The traffic and commotions in the slums of the empire had fully woken up when Tatsumi walked in to the old run-down pub. The streets behind him full of noise and movement as he walked in through the door. It was the same old bar that he had visited many times before. One of the places where he usually got his information. Twenty minutes after he had arrived, he was stitting in a secluded room on the upper floor of the bar. Alone with the same waitress that usually acted as his informer.

"Sooo... everything going alright in the palace?" the woman asked.

"I think so." Tatsumi said and leaned back into his seat. "Actually, things have started to move so fast that I am not even sure anymore."

"That sounds worrying." she answered and smiled.

"Well.. I won't say that it isn't. But I am used to dealing with stress."

She nodded. "As long as you have the ice queen looking out for your ass, you should be fine."

"Yeahhh... That is my reasoning as well." Tatsumi said and shifted a little in his seat. His butt still a bit sore. Thinking about the night that had been. "Either way, I am happy that this place hasn't been discovered yet. The entire palace is being searched through."

"I think we are pretty safe here." The woman said and crossed her arms across her big chest. "The military knows that they can't search through the entire capital. So the only risk we have is if someone in the palace is caught that knows of this meeting place. And currently, you are the only one that does that. And you are pretty confident that no one has followed you here yet, aren't you?"

"Yeah." Tatsumi said. He had once thought that Bellany had tracked him to this place during the night when he burned the archieves. But since she hadn't spoken up about it, he had assumed that it was not so. "If I am the only one then this place should be safe."

"So I reasoned as well." the waitress said and put her hands behind her head. Leaning back in her chair. "But why did you come here this early in the day? You usually only visits us after dinner time."

"It isn't good to be too predictable." Tatsumi said and smiled. "But I do have a request. A rather important one as well."

He brought forth a big sealed letter from his coat and handed it to her. "Open it when I have left."

"Is this connected to the fall of the imperial court?" she asked silently.

"In a sense. It is about making it look like I am the victim. That is all that I will say." Tatsumi said with a smile and started to stand up. "Anyway, I shall head back to the palace."

"Ahh, so this is somewhat related to your tug of war with the prime minister?" The waitress said and looked at the letter. Dangerously curious.

"Is it just me or have you gotten a lot more lax these last days?" Tatsumi said. "Someone might be listening, you know."

"Enough shit has passed through these rooms for them to be tapped. My head would have been on a pole a long time ago if this place wasn't safe." the girl said and balanced the letter between two fingers.

"Fair enough. But better safe than sorry."he said and started to walk towards the door. "But yeah. That thing is not going to accomplish much on it's own. But in the long run it might aid me." he said and nodded to the letter.

"A part of something bigger, eh?" the girl said with a smile.

Tatsumi returned the smile as he opened the door. "Yeah. Something like that. But it will be some time before that is ready. You know what they say, slow and steady wins the race."

* * *

Esdese's eyes were wide and her mouth slightly open. A shocked expression on her face.

Her eyes were moving quickly across the papers that were strewn out in front of her on the table. Having already taken in all the information they had to give.

The prime minister was standing some steps beside her. Looking at her with a worried gaze. He was a little bit unsure of how she would react to the evidence presented to her.

"I am sorry, Esdese." he said lowly.

Esdese picked up one of the papers. Her voice a bit faster than usual when she spoke. There was something in her tone that the prime minister had never heard from her before.

"This is really strong evidence, I will admit." she said and looked at the paper. A drawing of Tatsumi taking up half of it. "But it is not absolute. There is still a possibility that you are wrong about Tatsumi."

If it was anyone else, she would have sent them to the torture chambers with just half of the evidence he had presented her, the prime minister thought. She only allowed the doubt too gain the upper hand because they were talking about Tatsumi. To the prime minister, that was the biggest sign that dealing with Tatsumi couldn't wait any longer. Esdese was already letting her judgement be affected by her love for him.

But he needed to handle the situation carefully. Not that he distrusted Esdese's loyalty but he had never seen her react like this. In some ways this could even be interpreted as if she was unsure of what to do.

"Listen Esdese." he said in a friendly voice. "Try to look at the big picture. It does make a lot of sense. Sadly."

Her gaze returned to the papers. Staring at them. Willing them out of existence along with the entire situation they created.

"We need to act on this." the prime minister said silently. "Listen Esdese, I wouldn't have brought this up if I didn't think that it was a serious issue. I could easily make all this evidence disappear. But I think you can see how that will come back and bite us. And besides, do you really want that? Are you fine with living in such a delusion?"

Esdese looked at him for some seconds. He gave her a sad expression. After some moments her eyes moved down to the papers again. "The evidence is inconclusive." she stated.

The prime minister sighed heavily. "Come on, Esdese. For all we know he might be the one that killed emperor Makoto."

Esdese's expression grew a bit harder. "That is the only thing that I absolve him from completely. I am certain that he is innocent of that, at least."

"As you were certain that he didn't burn the imperial archives? I have heard that you killed some of you own subordinates just for accusing him of that."

"They tried to take matters into their own hands and kill him themselves. They believed that he had killed one of my advisors. It was a clear case of insubordination. Besides, the very person they thought Tatsumi had killed came out an absolved him of any blame." Esdese said in an empty voice. She gave the old man a hard look. "Are you questioning my judgement?"

"We have both been fooled by Tatsumi, Esdese." the prime minister lied in an attempt to lessen the tension. He was well aware that he was standing on the knife's edge right now. "Even if you do not believe that this is enough to condemn him, you must still admit that he is hiding a lot from us."

"I won't condemn him just because he is hiding something from me." Esdese said. Well aware of how weak her arguments were.

"Come on, Esdese." the minister sighed. "Think about this objectively. No matter how you look at it, Tatsumi has become a big risk. Especially in our current situation."

Esdese kept silent. Looking down at the papers on the table. Her thoughts and feelings battling inside of her.

"There is one more thing that you need to know, Esdese." the prime minister said somberly. She looked up at him. He snapped with his fingers and the door to the room opened. Esdese turned her attention to the doors as Bellany walked through them.

"One of your soldiers have a confession to make." the prime minister said.

Esdese's hard gaze focused on Bellany. She could easily see that her subordinate was very nervous. "What?" her tone was hard and unforgiving.

That alone was enough to make Bellany go down on her knees. Putting her forehead against the floor. "I am sorry, great general. I have witheld information from you."

Esdese very slowly rose up from her seat. Loooking at Bellany. Her presence suddenly oppressive and dangerous. The prime minister grew worried that Esdese would kill Bellany before she got a chance to say everything necessary.

"Tatsumi was the one who burned down the imperial archives, great general. I tried to stop him but he beat me down and then disappeared into the night."

Bellany could feel how Esdese's gaze drilled into her back. It was a great force behind it. "You testified that you hadn't seen Tatsumi that night. You said you had fallen sick at a friend's place."

"I was coerced into saying this by Tatsumi. I was actually recovering from the damage I sustained when I tried to fight him." Bellany said loudly into the floor. "That was why I was forced to abandon those that had followed Tatsumi together with me."

The room was silent for some moments. "You admit that you lied to me. You know who I am, Bellany. You know what this means for you." Esdese's voice was cold and emotionless.

"I do!" Bellany exclaimed and looked up at Esdese. "I do. But I can not take this anymore. I won't lie to you anymore, Esdese. I will take my punishment in the torture chambers."

Esdese was not going to to let her claim slip by that easily. "I know that there has always been bad blood between you and Tatsumi. How do I know that you are not just making this up?"

"I know what awaits me now. Do you honestly think I would chose such a fate for myself and my family just to make life bitter for Tatsumi?"

Esdese couldn't deny that argument. Bellany might have been willing to sacrifice herself to bring down Tatsumi in a desperate scenario. Maybe. But it was unlikely. And now her family was doomed as well. Esdese didn't think that the girl would ever be willing to go that far.

Suddenly her mind started to connect the signs. All the little clues that were hidden about this in her everyday life. Suddenly a lot of things started to make more sense.

She remembered how Tatsumi had said his final farewell to Wave when she had returned from killing the warden of the west. He had never explained to her why he did that. Even after he had been freed from the accusations of killing Bellany. She remembered how Tatsumi had seemed like he was aware of what was going to happen during Budo's meeting as they walked towards it. She remembered how Tatsumi and Makeias had been hiding something from her. She wondered how Tatsumi had gotten Incursio back in Garu.

She looked in front of her with an empty face as the puzzle started to make sense to her. As she realized what had been happening all along.

Suddenly Esdese understood her lover a little bit better. She realized where his true convictions were. And it was not with her.

She felt how something deep inside of her snapped. Breaking apart.

She turned around and took a couple of slow and unsteady steps back to the table. Looking down at the papers. "Tatsumi?" she asked silently. Her voice small and sad. Her teeth clenched and her face filled with pain.

The prime minister took a step closer to her. "I am so sorry, Esdese." He reached out to put a hand on her shoulder but he never got the chance. The storm of feelings raging in Esdese finally bursting out.

When he was reaching out to her with a hand, she grabbed the chair she had been sitting in with a hand and flung it at Bellany with all her strength. Neither the prime minister nor Bellany had a chance to react as the piece of furniture flew into her. Shattering as it did and sending Bellany flying into the wall behind her. Falling down as soon as she had stopped. Completely knocked out by the impact.

Esdese then spun around and raised her fist. She brought it down in the middle of all the damned papers and evidence. The force of her punch destroying the table completely. Making it split into four parts. Sending wood splinters flying in all directions along with the papers on the table. Causing the prime minister fall over on his back.

Then she turned around without a word and walked briskly to the doors. She hit the double doors with the back of her hand as she reached them. Her pain, anger and sadness searching for an outlet. The hit broke the two doors from their hinges and sent them flying into the corridor outside. She then leaped out of the room. Accelerating to her highest speed. Heading for Tatsumi.

The prime minister remained on the floor for some moments before he slowly started to stand up again.

"Ahh young love. How troublesome." he sighed and smiled. It seemed like everything had worked out. He had managed to turn Esdese against Tatsumi without making her his enemy. Now Esdese's loyalty was secured. Now he would remain in control of the empire through her. He had won.

He looked over at Bellany. "Guards, get a medic here immediately." he shouted.

He had promised the girl that he would give her whatever protection he could if she testified against Tatsumi. It would not do to have people believing that he didn't go through with his deals. The girl had served her purpose well. He had been smart to make her disguise herself as Bellany after they had found Bellany dead in the streets, so long ago. It was always good to have some hidden sources of information even among your allies. Even if it had requred some very special tools to make her disguise believable enough to fool the ice queen.

"It's all about being prepared, Tatsumi." he said to himself as he walked out of the room. Passing by the guards that were running into it. "And now that you have lost, you might realize that that I have entire decks up my sleeves."

* * *

**Author's note:**

**And there we go. The second longest entry in this story so far. The prime minister arc is now in full swing. A lot of things are about to go down. I am looking forward to it. This story is going to take a couple of turns now. I hope that you will stay for the ride.**

**The reveal of this specific chapter in regards to the reader would probably be the fact that Makeias only killed Bellany. It was the prime minister who then planted the imposter. Unknowing what had killed the real Bellany. A lot more reveals are to come. **

**Btw here is a funny fact: I have never played any of the warcraft games. I have no idea of the lore of these games. Neither the universe or the characters in it. So you can guess that I was quite suprised when I recieved a lot of messages after the release of the last chapter, talking about an homage or nod that I apparently had made to a ceratin character in that universe. I have made many nods and homages to other literary works through this story but this one was unintentional. But I found it funny nonetheless.**

**I apologise for the delays btw. Expect the next one in about ten days. For real this time. The next chapter will be a shorter one. Thanks for all the comments and such. I am ,as always, very grateful.**

**Take care of each other until next time.**


	29. The consequences 1

**Okay. So I wrote and I wrote and I wrote. When I reached what I would guess is the 75% mark of this chapter,it was already longer than any other chapter I had ever written. So I decided to split this into two chapters instead. Purely out of necessity. Since I didn't want to delay the realease any longer.**

* * *

**The consequences. (1/2)**

Tatsumi was not that far away from Esdese when she left the prime minister. He had been on his way back from the bar in the slums. Heading for their chambers to change his clothes. He was standing in a giant corridor, chatting with the guards when she approached. Tatsumi had always made a point to talk a lot to those that patrolled the inner castle. They usually had a good sense of what all those that lived in the higher levels were occupying their days with.

The first thing he could feel was the power of her presence. Causing him to stop himself in the middle of a sentence. Turning his head to the end of the corridor.

The power and anger she was emanating was so strong that he could feel it several gigantic rooms away. He immediately realized that something big was going on. He could tell just from the fury he felt from her. Moving closer to his position at an incredible speed. The thing that scared him about it was how uncontrolled it was.

Ha had seen Esdese furious many times before. He had witnessed her rage and it's terrifying effects. But her anger was usually as cold as her powers. He had seen her filled with rage but yet she always stayed in full control. She always seemed to be calm enough to think about the situation and analyze what was going on.

Not so this time.

As soon as that wave of power and danger washed over him, he knew that this was diffrent from anyhting he had seen before. It didn't feel like cold maliciousness. It felt like an inferno of rage and indignation. It felt completely untethered and wild. Without any control to it. And it scared him greatly.

He turned his head to the two guards that he had been chatting with.

"Run!" he hissed loudly and grabbed Incursio.

The men looked at each other but before any of them could react, one of the great wooden doors in the other side of the corridor exploded into wood chips and smoke as Esdese's elbow smashed through it. Her figure flying into the long room. Bringing dust and smoke with her from the other obstacles she had destroyed on her way there. Causing some people in the corridor to scream and those nearest the door to fall over.

Tatsumi immediately turned invisible. Summoning Incursio. He was not quite sure of what was going on. Or why she was so angry. But he knew that it was not safe to be around her right now. So he decided to immediately turn invisible. But it was too late.

Esdese had not known exactly where Tatsumi was. She had actually been heading for their chambers. Thinking it most likely that he would be there. More acting on instinct than actual reasoning. But as she flew into the room there was a tiny little moment, a fracture of a second, when she saw Tatsumi. Just before he disappeared into thin air. But now she knew that he was there.

"TAATSUUMIIIIIIIII!" she roared at the top of her lungs and kicked off the floor. Launching herself towards that end of the corridor. Destroying the floor behind her as she did. All her instincts and abilities as a hunter honing in on him.

Tatsumi didn't hesitate for a second. If that rage was directed at him then there was only one thing he could do. He immediately turned around and jumped out of the corridor. Through the door he had entered through. Fleeing away from Esdese.

The problem was that he knew that Esdese could detect him slightly when he moved around in his invisibility. Even when he remained still she was often able to tell if he was nearby or not. So he quickly realized that he was in a bad position. If he moved around she would track him down and if he stayed still and hid then she might be able to slowly pinpoint his position just by telling how close he was.

There was only one option left to him. He needed to outrun her. Somehow.

As soon as he left the room, he came into a new corridor that stretched in two directions. He immediately picked one direction and ran away as fast as he could. Staying low and close to the floor. He realized that he needed to change direction again soon. Since he wouldn't be able to reach the end of that corridor before Esdese entered it.

He picked the first exit he reached. Which was a huge marble staircase that went upwards. Turning around a corner after a while. He immediately started to climb it in long leaps. Turning the corner in a matter of seconds. He kept climbing it for almost twenty seconds. When he reached the top floor he was faced with three giant doors. All going in diffrent directions.

He stood there for some heartbeats. Trying to remember if he had been in this part of the palace before. But then he heard a loud boom behind him and once again felt that oppressively strong presence wash over him from behind. Moving closer at a fast pace. He realized that she was climbing the stairs as well.

He immediately jumped through the door to his right. Not even having the time to close it behind him.

He went through the door and entered a vast library. Large wooden shelves moving all the way up to the ceiling. Several meters high. Spreading out for many rows before him. The opposite end of the library was covered with large windows. Tatsumi immediately moved in between the shelves. Staying low and moving quietly. He had never been in this room before. He didn't know if it had any other exits.

Just some seconds after he had started to sneak through the room, Esdese entered it. Halting herself in the doorway. Her earlier movement causing a strong wind to blow into the room. Making her hair blow before her and the loose papers in the room to fly up in the air.

Tatsumi halted his movement when he noticed that. He stayed low and absolutely still. The room was completely silent. It seemed like they were alone in it. After some moments he could hear her footsteps. Slowly moving in towards the center of the library. Her instincts on absolute edge. Searching for him.

Tatsumi dared not to move. Afraid of making a sound. She seemed to be two or three bookshelves away from him. He listened as the sound of her boot's footsteps echoed through the silent room. The sound slowly moving past the point where he was and moving further into the room. Tatsumi himself was trying to think about what he should do next. It was dangerous to move around right now. The slightest of sounds could reveal his position to her.

"I know that you're in here." Esdese said. Her voice a low growl. "I can feel it."

Tatsumi waited for her to say something more. So that he could move a little bit under the cover of her own voice. It took a little while until she spoke again.

"Show yourself." she hissed. Her voice almost a whisper. "Stop playing the coward."

Tatsumi started to move a few silent steps away as she said that. But as he took the fourth step, a long and thin spear of ice came flying through the bookshelf beside him. Loudly creating a hole and sending the books flying just a meter behind him. The ice spear piercing the floor a decimeter behind one of his heels. Tatsumi froze all his movements again. Less than a second after that, Esdese appeared in the end of the aisle he was in. Appearing with lightning speed in the end he was moving towards.

Tatsumi remained absolutley still. Holding his breath. He could hear his own heartbeats.

Esdese stood still in the end of the aisle. Slightly hunched with a hand on one of the bookshelves. Her eyes staring directly at him. But Tatsumi stayed still. He didn't know if she had detected him or if she was just looking at the ice spear behind him.

He met her gaze for almost ten seconds. Not breathing. Then her eyes moved away from him and looked down the aisle. She remained like that for a little while longer. Her eyes scanning the aisle. Then she slowly took a couple of steps to the side. Disappearing around the corner.

Tatsumi would have sighed in relief but was afraid that she would hear the sound of it. He very carefully allowed himself to breath again. Listening to how her footsteps traveled down a diffrent aisle.

He stood still for a long while after that. He looked at the door that he had entered through but he knew that he couldn't just make a run for it. She would hear him the moment he started to move around. He had to put his hopes on that she would leave the room.

But he got no such luck. After some minutes Esdese grew tired of searching for him like that. She simply raised her arms and smashed her fists into the bookshelves on both her sides. Causing them both to fall over in opposite directions. Hitting the shelves behind them. Causing a domino effect that spread quickly.

Tatsumi immediately realized her plan. She would bring everything down in the room and then look for him as he started to get out of the way. But the situation gave him the cover of sound once again. The room filled with noises now that the shelves were tipping into each other and books were fallling down on the floor.

As the shelf on his side started to tip over, Tatsumi caught one of the books that fell down from it. He threw it across the room. It hit the door he had entered through, just as Tatsumi intended. Causing it to slam shut. Tatsumi didn't know if she had taken the bait since he couldn't hear her over the noise. But he put his bets on it.

He launched himself in the opposite direction. Jumping out from the aisle just as the bookshelves collapsed against each other behind him. He brought his arms out in front of him as he flew through one of the glass windows. Not really knowing what awaited him outside. Guessing that it was better than remaining in the library.

He was met by a blue and clear sky as the entire city spread out in front of him. As far as the eye could see. He was rather high up. A lot higher than he had expected. Luckily for him, he was not going to fall all the way down to street level. Just a couple of stories under the window he had jumped out of a big inner garden stretched out. Raised in an inner yard. Positioned in one of the higher levels of the palace.

Tatsumi braced himself as he flew down towards the garden. Palm trees meeting him. Just as he was about to fall down into the thick vegetation, the wall above him exploded outwards. Sending stones and glass flying in all directions. Esdese flying through the smoke. Moving down after him. Tatsumi could only see her figure for a short moment before he fell through the foliage of the inner garden.

He landed in the middle of the vegetation. Surrounded by colorful fauna and bushes. The vegetation exotic and beautiful. Tatsumi had no time to admire the scenery though. He immediately jumped into the nearest bush. Laying down flat on his stomach under it.

Just as he did, Esdese entered the garden. Smashing down where he had been standing a second ago. Creating a small crater as she did. Sending dust and dirt flying in all directions. She straighted up and looked around. Searching for some movements. But she could see none. She had seen how some of the leaves had moved away for his invisible form. She knew that he was there somewhere.

"You cannot escape me, Tatsumi."she growled. Her eyes scanning her surroundings "I can smell you."

Tatsumi looked at her boots. Invisibility activated under the bush. She was standing less than a meter away.

Esdese could feel that he was close. But her patience was limited at his point in time. Currently not having the composure for a slow and steady hunt. She lashed out with a hand to her side. Sending a rain of ice spears in that direction. Shredding the entire garden on her left side. Obliterating the vegetation. She watched as the trees and bushes collapsed. Trying to detect any movement outside of the expected.

The bush Tatsumi was under was partly blown away from him as a tree trunk fell down besides him. Blowing dust up into the air. But he remained still. Esdese was way too close for him to move around. Even if she was looking in the opposite direction.

He thought that he was safe when a single piece of glass came falling down from the wall she had destoyed above them. It hit him in the back of his thigh. He barely noticed the hit. But when it bounced of him it made a distinct metallic sound. Unlike any of the noise the chaos around them created.

Tatsumi could feel how her gaze landed on him. As quickly as he dared, he turned his head up towards her. Finding her looking straight at him. He looked at her, wondering if she was just following the sound or if she had found him. After some moments he realized something. His heart skipping a beat as he did.

The tree that had landed beside him had sent dust and earth flying when it landed. He had dirt lying on top of him. She could see that it was just hovering in the air.

He remained still for some moments but she slowly turned her body towards him, so that she was facing. That made him realize that the jig was up. He deactivated the invisibility but remained in his crawling position. Both of them stood still and watched each other. Waiting for the other one to act. After a little while, Tatsumi took the initiative.

"Hey. Why are yo-" was all he managed to say. Esdese lifted her foot and brought it down towards his back in a stomping motion. Tatsumi immediately rolled to the side. Avoiding her foot with just some centimeters.

He kept rolling away. Ice spikes piercing the ground where he had been. "You ruined it." she called out to him as he rolled away from her. The ice following him. "It was perfect. And you ruined it." Her voice cold and hard.

Tatsumi didn't waste a moment. He immediately activated Incursio to the fullest. Exploding forward, past Esdese. Wearing the teigu's evolved form. Heading for the garden's exit. Revealed to him now that Esdese had leveled half of the garden to the ground.

He didn't need to look to know that she was following him. And she was close, he could feel it. He looked over his shoulder just in time to see her sword come swinging against his back. He brought his spear up in order to block it. He managed to do so in the nick of time but the force of the hit sent him flying to the side. He managed to land on his feet but Esdese was on him before he even had stopped his momentum. Swinging at him again.

This time Tatsumi had a more proper stance though. When he blocked her attack he managed to hold his ground. A loud clashing sound boomed through the garden as the two powerful forces met. Esdese's eyes widened ever so slightly. Suprised that he was standing his ground. They immediately started to trade blows. Blocking and attacking. Though Tatsumi stayed more on the defensive. He knew more than most about how insanely powerful she was. He knew that he couldn't win a fight against her in the long run.

Though suprisingly, they were more evenly matched than they both had suspected. At least in comparison to most fights Esdese could remember. It didn't take too long for her to start enjoying herself. A smile slowly appearing on her face. Even if the frown remained.

Tatsumi was trying to figure out a solution but it was extremely hard to do. He had to spend all his focus on their fight. Otherwise he would lose quickly. He decided to try and put some small distance between them. When he noticed that Esdese was going in for a stronger swing, he simply lightened his stance slightly. Their weapons collided with a loud metallic bang. Causing the wind to blow away from them. The strength of the hit made Tatsumi glide backward because of his lighter stance. His entire body moved a couple of meters away from the impact. Even if he remained standing. His feet making long marks in the dirt.

Esdese started walking towards him before he had even stopped. She was still radiating that same hostile and oppressive aura. But now she had started to smile.

"Glad to see that you are getting into a better mood." Tatsumi shouted. Trying to calm down the situation with conversation.

"This will be your last fight, Tatsumi. Your final battle." she said as she walked towards him. "And I am not about to let my bitterness ruin this final, beautiful moment."

Tatsumi took a stance. His eyes searching for escape possibilities.

"Come now, Tatsumi. Give me all you have. I don't want your final glorious combat to be lessened because you are not fully engaged in it." she called out.

Tatsumi took a step backwards but that immediately made Esdese pounce at him. Bringing her sword around in a powerful swing. Tatsumi blocked and once again they were fighting. This time Tatsumi had a hard time focusing on anything but the battle itself. Esdese was not holding back. Not only did he have to watch out for her swings and kicks but he also had to avoid ice spikes and projectiles that appeared out of the thin air all around him.

It didn't take long for one of her larger projectiles to destroy one of the walls on their side. Tatsumi immediately moved through the hole. Fighting of Esdese's attacks as he did. After a little while they had both moved through a couple more walls. People fleeing away as soon as they burst through the rooms.

Soon enough they had entered a huge staircase. Moving down along the wall in what looked to be the insides a tall tower. The stair moving in a circle. Attached to the wall of the cylindrical room. The middle of the room open all the way down to the bottom.

They moved down the broad stairs at a high tempo. Tatsumi backing off and Esdese following. Tatsumi slowly realized that this might be his best chance. After a little while he acted on his idea.

As soon as the fight allowed him to do so, Tatsumi jumped off the side of the stairs. Falling down towards the bottom of the room. He had expected Esdese to follow him and she did. But first she threw a boulder of ice after him. Larger than a house. Destroying the sides of the stairs at it flew down after him. Esdese speeding down the stair behind it. Almost fast enough to catch up to it.

Tatsumi landed at the bottom of the cylindrical room. The floor shattering under his feet. Esdese would be expecting him to move out of the room as soon as he had landed. But he wouldn't. As soon as he had stopped he turned upwards towards the incoming boulder. He lowered himself and then jumped up towards the ice. Bringing his spear up in a swing towards it. Putting all of Incursio's power into that swing.

With a loud crack the giant ice boulder shattered into many diffrent pieces. All varying in sizes. The largest ones bigger than a cart and the smaller ones as big as an arm. But the large mass of ice did not stop it's decent just because it had been divided. The ice scattered and started to destroy the stairs on the edge of the room but it still fell downwards. But that served Tatsumi well. He swatted away the block right in front of him with a swing of his spear. Then he allowed his momentum to carry him into the blizzard of blocks that came falling down.

This could be a deciding moment. There were two ways in which he could go. Either he could jump upwards. Kicking off from diffrent ice blocks to keep his momentum going. Or he could just fall down to the bottom of the room with them. The big thing was that Esdese couldn't see him currently. She would have to guess in which direction he was heading. It would be over in a second so she couldn't just track his presence like usual. Not in this chaos.

The ice was destroying the stairs all around it. If Esdese picked one direction and he picked another, then that could be where this fight ended. That might allow him to escape. He made his choice.

He noticed how the ice at his left was being pushed away. He realized that Esdese had also understood what this meant. She was moving through the ice debris herself to find him first. But he had another trick that she didn't know about. He knew that he could still activate the invisibility in this form. He had learnt it when he fought Makeias. He activated his invisibility and just a moment after that, the ice a little bit under him was smashed to splinters by Esdese sword as she flew by him. Just a couple of meters away. Tatsumi waited until she had passed behind a couple of ice blocks before he started to jump on the diffrent ice boulders.

Esdese herself concluded that he must have jumped down again. Him moving up and breaking the ice must have been a feint. She couldn't see him anywhere. And all the noise and movement around her made it impossible for her more sensitive perceptive skills to locate him. She let herslef fall down with the ice. Using her arm to knock away any ice above her that came falling down towards her.

But when all the ice had fallen down and the noise had settled, she stil couldn't see him anywhere. She immediately turned her head up and saw him. He was almost a hundred meter above. Standing at the stairs. Just at the point where they ended. Where the ice had destroyed them.

Tatsumi looked at her for just a fraction of a second before he turned around and started racing up the stairs. This was his chance.

He knew that she could still just jump from the walls in order to reach him. But that would require her to do a zig-zag movement between the room's walls. It would take some seconds. And that would be enough, now that he had the speed and agility of his fully activated teigu.

He accelerated to his highest speed. Moving up the broad stairs in leaps. He was so focused on giving everything that he got that it took some moments for him to recognize how everything had changed around him. He only noticed it when he saw a small rock in the air. Hovering some meters from the stairs. Flung up into the air as the ice crushed the stairs some moments ago. But the stone was just hovering in the air. Perfectly still.

After some heartbeats, Tatsumi realized that Esdese had activated Mahapadma. She had known that this might happen. She had planned to simply use Mahapadma to solve it.

Yet he was still moving.

He didn't understand why he was able to move around. He had been so focused on just moving forward as fast as possible. Focusing all of his strength on that. And somehow, Incursio's defensive abilities had repelled the effects of Esdese's mahapadma. He was still able to move.

He looked down over the edge of the stairs as he raced up them.

Esdese had already started to jump up the walls. When she saw him still moving around she got a suprised look on her face. Her smile lessening slightly. But then it grew wider than before. A dangerously happy look filling her face. Even now, she found joy and pride in his abilities. Even now, he excited her.

Tatsumi started to feel a small bit of relief. Now it seemed like he would be able to get away. Since Esdese had to jump along the walls in order to reach him.

He finally reached the exit of the room. The hole in the wall that they had entered through. He was just about to jump through it as he got a premonition. His instincts warning him of something his mind couldn't understand. He started to turn around but it was a little bit too late. Esdese's swing hit him straight over the back. Her sword cutting a deep dent into his armor. Sending him falling forward. He turned around as he landed on the ground. She had ice attached to her legs and elbows.

Tatsumi didn't have time to think about how she had gotten up there so fast as she attacked him again. Bringing her sword down against him. Tatsumi blocked but had a hard time attacking her back now that he was lying down. He tried to move backwards but it was not easy as she continued to swing down at him with hit after hit.

Soon he grew desperate and decided to make a dangerous trade.

He moved his spear a little too far to his side when he deflected one of her attacks. Which allowed her to reach down with her free hand. Grabbing a hold of his arm. Pushing it down to the ground. Tatsumi knew that her grabbing him with her hand could have dire consequences but Tatsumi was desperat and now her other side was open. Since he had deflected her sword arm and her free hand was grabbing his arm. He directed a kick at the point where her chest and stomach connected. Right at her side.

But Esdese had expected the attack. She immediately covered her side in a layer of spikey ice armour. What she hadn't expected was Tatsumi's strength. Brought forth from desperation and fear.

She started to freeze his arm but just as she was about to get done, his kick broke through her ice armor. His armored leg shattering the ice. The strong kick hit her straight in the side. Causing Esdese to involuntarily let out a pained yelp as she was launched to the side. The success of the attack was so unexpected to her that she had not prepared for it in the slightest. She flew away to the side by the force of it. Dropping her sword as she did. Her cap flying off her by the impact.

Tatsumi was suprised as well but he had no time to spare. He started to stand up but noticed that his right arm had been frozen to the ground under it. He immediately started to tear at the ice with his free hand. After some moments he managed to get free. He turned around and started to get back up. Abandoning his spear as he did. The weapon still frozen to the ground.

But he didn't manage to fully stand up before Esdese tackled him from behind. Knocking the air out of him.

"You will not escape me!" she shouted loudly. As he crashed on the floor with her on top of him. Her voice part anger and part desperation.

Tatsumi turned around under her but the moment he did, a cold and mind-shattering pain hit him in the shoulder. Esdese holding an ice spear in her hands. Leaving her sword on the floor in her attempt to catch him. She had brought the spear down towards him as he turned around. Hitting him straight in the shoulder. Parts of the ice broke of as it hit Incursio but Esdese double handed stab was strong and Tatsumi had no time to defend.

Tatsumi screamed out in pain as the ice spear pierced his body. Going through his shoulder and into the floor under him, lodging itself there. Pinning him in place.

Tatsumi's hands went up and grabbed the piece of ice that went through his body. But as he did that, Esdese brought up her hand and brought it down on his head. Her fist covered in ice as she did. Hitting him straight in the armor in front of his face. The hit causing Tatsumi's head to ring as it was knocked to the side. He let go off the spear and brought up his arms to defend himself.

But the first hit had left him dizzy. He didn't managed to stop the second hit, coming from her other hand and after that he was way to disoriented to block her fast and brutal punches to his head. Soon enough his arms were just sloppily flailing in the air.

Yet Esdese kept hitting him with all she got. Punch after punch. Her frustation not allowing her to stop. The ice broke against the armor of Incursio with every hit. Being resummoned around her fists as soon as she drew them back. Soon enough her knuckles were bleeding and Tatsumi's arms had fallen down to the his sides. His body twitching with every hit.

After a little while a crack in the armor appeared. Just over it's head. Esdese grabbed it with both her hands, bent forward and pulled with everything she got in her. Grunting loudly. And soon enough, the armor gave in. Very slowly being pulled back to reveal Tatsumi's face. The armor torn apart over the front of his head.

Esdese rose up a little bit when she was done. Looking at him. Panting heavily from the ordeal of pulling apart Incursio with her bare hands. Her face sweaty. Under the armor, Tatsumi's face wasn't that bad off. He was clearly bruised up and had the beginning of a black eye forming but beyond that, he had no serious injury.

His eyes were unfocused and his mouth slightly open. His eyes slowly settled on her. "Esdese..." he mumbled dizzly.

His voice made Esdese draw a sharp breath. She raised her fist and brought it down in the middle of his face. The last thing Tatsumi could feel was how his nose caved in and how his front teeth bent inwards.

Then everything went black.

* * *

Akame looked at how the whole procedure entered the room. Marching into it slowly. The group of people that were entering it in front of her was a varied bunch. Some were regular soldiers. Some looked like small giants. Too tall and thin to be considered regular humans. She could see one child and one fully armored man. The entire group walked through the tunnel behind them and into the room.

Makeias' retinue.

Akame herself stood behind a table. A single chair standing beside her. Opposite to the table's only other chair. She was surrounded by her friends and colleagues. Leone standing closest to her right side. Isamu a little bit further away on her left. Beside him stood one of the leaders of the revolutionary army. And beside Leone stood the leader of the religious movement known as the path of peace. Clad in his long robes and animal skull. Behind them stood an array of representatives and warriors from the revolutionary army. Along with some students of night raid. Training to become future members.

They were all standing in the dim lit room. With walls of earth and stone. Far underground. This was the meeting place that they had decided upon randomly. Intended to be a neutral ground for both parties. But Akame knew that wasn't the truth. She had a few cards up her sleeve.

She looked at the approaching group. She recognized the boy from the jaegers. Having met him before. Though he had changed slightly. Wearing a black coat and one of his eyes covered up with a bit of cloth that was wrapped around his head. He had a light scar across his chin and his hair was a bit wilder than before. But she recognized him immediately.

And beside him walked the one person she felt the least prepared to meet.

Kurome was meeting her gaze intensly. Barely even blinking. But her face was completely empty. Devoid emotions. Akame kept her own mask as well. Could she make this work out? A part of her wanted this meeting to be successful. Just for that sake. But even if an alliance was reached between them, would Kurome understand herm now that she had left them empite herself. Or would she still feel like her betrayal was to grave. Akame didn't know.

She moved her eyes to the other side of the approaching group. Dismissing that problem for the moment. Her eyes landed on Kai, the main administrator of Makeias' forces. Not that she had any idea of who the man was. But he was wearing a full plate armor that covered up everything but his head. His cloak swaying behind him. A giant sword strapped across his back. He seemed to be in his twenties but his eyes told her that he had seen a lot of hardships would say his attire looked a bit eccentric for a regular soldier but it paled in the company that he was in.

Beside him walked Tom-Tom. Akame had never seen him before either. She had seen his tribesmen before but the old man stood out even among them. His long beard swaying with each step he took. His staff way taller than his bent back. And the big owl that stared back at her from his shoulder.

As if to contrast how big the man was, a small child walked besides him. Akame looked at the tiny figure. Easily the smallest in the room. Her blonde hair reaching down to her knees and a military helmet on her head. Way too big for her. She had nothing but damaged rags on her otherwise. The little girl glared back at her with angry eyes.

Then Akame's eyes finally landed on the one in the middle of the retinue. The pillager.

The man looked almost regular in the company that he was with. She immediately noted that he was taller and thinner than the last time that they met. He was walking slightly hunched forward with his hands in the pockets of his cargo pants. Akame looked at the bandages that covered his entire body. She didn't know their exact purpose even if she knew a little bit about Morbus. But she was sure that there was a reason for them. She would have to be careful.

Makeias was smiling at her. She met his eyes with an empty expression. He was her biggest failure. If she had just killed him down in the mines so long ago then two of her old students would still be alive. If she had killed him back then, they would not be in this pressed situation. If she had succeded with her assassination then Najenda might still have been...

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen!" Makeias called out and raised his hands on his sides as he reached the table. "No need to be so tense. We are only here to talk, aren't we?"

Akame nodded. "Just so." she lied. "Thank you for coming her personally, Makeias. I really hope that we will come to an agreement."

Makeias gaze landed on her. His big smile still not reaching his eyes.

"Though I must say that I am a bit suprised." he went on. "I did not expect to hear from you. At least not in this manner. After all that went down in Garu. And... before that as well." he said and his smile widened.

Akame ignored the insinuation and started to sit down in her chair with closed eyes.

"I mean, the last time you and I met in an underground room like this, you were trying to kill me, Akame." Makeias said and started to sit down in the other chair. "I don't want to bring any grudges to this meeting but I lost a lot of men that day. You are just as fearsome as they say."

Akame looked at him for some moments. She didn't want to walk down this road but there was one thing that she wanted to know. "I lost two of my students to you that day. I will leave that behind me but I would like to ask you about what happened to the one that you didn't leave for me to find."

"I am sure that you have guessed that she is long dead." Makeias said. His smile becoming a bit more compassionate. At least giving her that courtesy.

"How did she die?"

"Her end was more painless than the one I left for you. That is all that I will say."

Akame's gaze was rock hard. "They were barely teenagers."

Makeias shrugged. "I told you the last time we met, it seems to me like they grow younger every day. Besides, you killed sixteen of my men. They had families and friends that I had to write the death memos to. But I will be kind and say that we are karmically even."

She was about to bring up Garu but stopped herself in the last moment. She couldn't start that fight. It would lessen the chances for diplomatic success drastically. And she was not yet ready to leave that option behind. She decided to move on.

"I will not pretend that I don't hold a grudge against you, Makeias. But I believe that my own wishes comes second to what is best for my organization and the people of the empire. You have killed people that were very dear to me. But for the sake of the future, I will leave that behind me. Can I ask you to do the same?"

"Suprisingly noble words for an assassin." Makeias said. "But I couldn't agree more. I am here for the sake of the future. That is all that matters now."

"We have come here to offer you a chance to ally yourself to us. We believe that an alliance between us will bring the end of the empire with it."

"Yeah, yeah. You stated so much in your letter." Makeias said and waved one of his hands in the air. "And that is all well and good. But what really matters to us right now is what circumstances you demand for this alliance to go down. To be more exact, what is it that you demand of me?"

Akame brought forth a folder. She pushed it over the table, to Makeias. He picked it up and opened it. The room was silent as he read through it.

"You know that these demands are impossible." he said after a while. His eyes still moving across the papers.

"We are willling to tolerate a few exceptions and some of these demands are negotiable. But we won't budge on the main point."

"You want me to stop all my foraging from the common people." Makeias said and looked up from the folder.

"It's raiding, plundering and pillaging. Let's be honest here." Leone said with a hard smile.

Akame nodded. "You will need to stop your force's cruelty towards the common people if this alliance is going to happen."

Makieas closed the folder and put it down on the table. "And how will I then sustain my forces?"

"The revolutionary army have been able to sustain themselves just fine with the support of the people and anonymous backers."

"Well, not to sound condescending but I don't wish to end up the same way as your organization has." Makeias said and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Our current state has little to do with our resource management." Akame said plainly.

"Is that so?" Makeias said. His smile staying. "Either way, I don't think I can get that kind of support that quickly. It will take some time to find that kind of supporters. And during that time my soldiers will have to live on some rather poor standards."

"Is your morale so low that you can't even push your own men to do some sacrifices?" Leone asked mockingly.

"Ohh my organization is very diffrent from yours, my lady." Makeias said and smiled at Leone. "I actually have to give my soldiers hopes of victory. They aren't gathered by some lofty ideals of a better world. They stay together with me because they hate the empire. And hate can only substitute solidarity for so long. If I start reducing their living standards as well then that might lead to problems."

"So you can't control your own troops then?" Leone pressed on.

"Ohh I know how to put the whip into practice." Makeias said and shrugged."But they work hard for me and put their lives on the line every day. I prefer to tempt them with rewards instead of threatening them with punishments."

Leone was about to answer but Akame silenced her with a look. She then turned her eyes to Makeias.

"I have made it very clear that we won't work together with you unless you can stop this pillaging of the innocent. Shall I take this as a no?"

The room was very tense as all attention was focused on Makeias. Everyone in the room knew that this might be where things turned messy. Akame didn't let it get to her. She and hers had prepared well for this. They knew what to do as soon as it was evident that Makeias wasn't interested. All the preparations were done. The pillager would not leave alive.

Makeias eyes slowly traveled down to the blade at her side. Murasame. Then his eyes slowly moved up to hers again.

"Ohh I don't know about that." Makeias said slowly.

"What?" Akame asked. She had been sure that he was going to decline.

"There are a lot of things to gain from an alliance with the remnants of the revolutionary army." he went on and tapped his fingers against the folder on the table.

"Sure." Akame said. A bit uncertain all of a sudden.

"I will need to take this back to my army. This conditions will need to be discussed at length in my organization. I am sure you will understand."

Akame was unsure on the right course of action. She had been certain that negotiations would fail. She had prepared to take down the pillager. It had always been the main objective. But what if this actually could work? What if an alliance between them really was possible?

"Of course." she said after some moments.

"I suggest we set up a second meeting. In a week or two. Then we can decide if this really is possible." Makeias said.

Akame's mind raced. She wanted to end this here. Giving the pillager more time created more uncertainties. But how could she demand so without seeming hostile or suspicious. She couldn't just demand that the pillager decided everything on spot. That seemed unreasonable. As if the only thing she was striving for was more fighting. She couldn't do that. Not now that she was the leader. She had to give peace a chance.

"Fine." she sighed. "We will have a second meeting. On two conditions."

"Mhh?" Makeias raised and eyebrow at her.

"The first one is that I will decide the location. You can decide how long to wait but I would advice you not to take too long. Our common enemy won't be weakened forever."

Makeias simply nodded in response.

"Secondly, I want one of your subordinates as ensurance that you will contact us again."

"That is fine." Makeias said. "But only if I get an hostage in return. So that I know that my own subordinate will be treated well."

Akame nodded. Her gaze then wandered through the strange group standing behind Makeias. She decided pretty quickly. "Okay. Then I want that one as my prisoner."

She pointed at Wave.

Wave seemed suprised but not much more than that. Makeias looked at him over his shoulder. Akame had struck him in a bad place with this. Wave was his admiral. If something would happen to Wave then he would risk losing all of his newfound naval power. Since those men were loyal to Wave and not him.

Makeias was about to try to object when Kurome stepped forth. Putting herself in front Wave. "I will take Wave's place." she announced loudly.

"Deal." Makeias said before Akame could object. "And I will take that beautiful young blonde beside you."

He pointed at Leone.

Leone smashed her fist into her hand so hard that the bang of it echoed in the room. "Deal." she said with a challenging smile on her face. To Akame's dismay.

"Give me a second." Akame said and turned to Leone. "Are you sure about this?" she whispered so silently that she thought only the two of them could hear it. "He didn't pick you by chance. And he is not the kind of man to swayed by your looks. He is too cold for that."

Leone just smiled and patted Akame on the shoulder. "Relax. I know how to handle myself. I survived the hospitalities of Esdese for months. I think I can handle the pillager."

Akame didn't like this but she couldn't back down now. On the opposite side of the table a similar discussion was going on.

"I should be the one to go. She requested me." Wave objected in whispers to Kurome's back. The smaller girl standing in front of him.

"Like I could leave you with them. They will stab you in the back before you even turn it towards them." Kurome said silently.

"They can't do that. Then Makeias will kill his hostage."

Kurome was silent for some moments. Not able to argue with that. But she had her own reasons. "Let me do this, Wave. I have some unfinished business here as well." she finally said.

Wave opened his mouth but then closed it. Stopping himself.

Makeias turned in his seat and looked at Kurome. Waving her closer with a hand. When she walked up to him he grabbed her arm.

"Be careful. We might have to improvise later on." he said silently. Kurome looked at him. A bit suprised at the interaction.

"Don't concern yourself. I am not Wave."

Makeias nodded at her and let go off her arm. Only then did Kurome realize that the hand that had grabbed her was not covered in bandages. The only part of his body that wasn't. Apart from his feet.

Makeias smiled at her and rose up from his chair. "Well then. I will contact you soon enough. Then we will decide if there is a possibility for an alliance. And by extension the fate of the empire."

Akame nodded and turned around. She squeezed Leone's shoulder and then started to leave the rooom. The group behind her started to follow her. Kurome looked at Wave one last time over her shoulder. Then she started to walk towards the other group. Leone starting to walk towards Makeias' group at the same time.

Makeias looked at Kurome. Thinking about the situation. After some moments he picked up the folder on the table and startd to leave the room as well. As he was about to turn around he looked over at the other group. Focusing on the man in outskirts of it. The man wearing a huge animal skull. As part of his uniform. The religious leader of the path of peace.

Makeias smiled at the man. The black empty sockets of the skull stared back at him. After some moments, the big animal skull nodded to him.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**Will keep this short so that I can continue working with the next one.**

**So yeah, this chapter ended a little bit adruptly. Since it was supposed to be the halfway point of a much bigger chapter. But the bright side is that half of the next chapter is already written. It will hopefully be done within a week. 7 days at most.**

**And hey, more than 400 followers now. Nothing like a meaningless milestone to boost one's self-esteem! But seriously though, thanks a lot for reading. If no one would read this then it would not be written.**

**Take care of each other.**


	30. The consequences 2

**(30/10 ****Edit ****: Next chapter delayed because of irl distractions. Should be released in 4-5 days.) **

**Not late by normal standards but late in regards to the promised deadline.**

* * *

**The consequences. (2/2)**

Leone yawned deeply as she walked through the camp. Her hands behind her head.

It was growing rather late into the evening. The sun had almost completely settled. The sky slowly turning from blue to black. She had decided to go for a stroll in order to ease some of her boredom. But now she wasn't really sure where she was. The camp around her was in constant motion. Makeias' men constantly raising tents and structures. Picking down others. Leone could not see any patterns in their work but she was sure that there was one. But it did make it harder for her to navigate her way back to her tent. Since the entire camp was constantly changing.

"You don't have any idea of where I can get some food?" she called out to the small group that was following her. Her guards. Makeias had sent some of his own personal warriors to supervise her stay. The long and slender figures following her around wherever she went. Always keeping a distance. There was about twelve of them and they had never responded to her even once. This time was no exception.

"You know, if you never answer me, I won't even know if you can understand me." she called out to them as she walked on. Leone had fought against their kind before, back in Garu. She had actually killed a couple of them in her struggle to get to Najenda. So she was unsure if they held some sort of grudge towards her.

She sighed as she walked on. Looking around for some kind of landmark that she recognized. The group behind her continuing to shadow her. After a long while she sat down on a stack of wooden boxes. The stack placed between two tents. She stretched her legs for some moments. She considered activating Lionelle and use the teigu's superior smell and instincts to find her way back. But she didn't know how her guards would react to that and she was determined to at least not initiate any trouble while she was a "guest" in Makeias' camp. She didn't want to make things harder for Akame.

"Are you lost?" the voice of a young man called out to her from her left.

When she turned her head she saw how a young lad was walking towards her. Wearing an piece of dark cloth around his head as an eyepatch and having a long black coat over his shoulders. Almost reaching down to the ground. A sword strapped across his back under it. She had seen this young man a couple of times before. It was Wave, ex-jaeger and leader of the fleet that Makeias had at his disposal.

The young man wore a friendly smile as he walked up to her. "These camps can be hard to navigate at first."

"Tell me about it." Leone said. "I have started to wonder if they keep the camp so chaotic just to mess with people like me." she gave him a warm expression. He was the only one in this camp that she actually liked a bit. Not that she had talked to him before.

"Yeah. I felt the same when I first came here." Wave said. "But the truth of the matter is simply that most units in these camps already have specific orders. So they don't interact with each other. Everyone doing their own thing. So everything just seems like chaos if you don't belong to a unit. May I?" he said and gestured to the box beside her with an arm.

"Oh, by all means."Leone said and scooted over a bit.

Wave sat down beside her. He reached in under his coat and brought forth a wineskin. He took a swig of it and then offered it to her.

"Ohh hoh, trying to charm me, are you?" she asked with a teasing smile but took the bag from him nonetheless.

"Just common hospitality, my lady." Wave answered.

Leone took a deep gulp from the bag. It was wine. Strong and sour. But Leone was not a picky drinker and the strong alcohol burn felt good through her stomach and chest.

"Soo..." Wave said as she brought down the wineskin. "How has your stay here in the camp been so far?"

"Boring." Leone said and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She had been in the camp for five days and she had not found much to entertain herself with. Especially since she was trying to avoid any trouble at all. "Having this cheerful group staring at my neck wherever I go hasn't helped." She said and nodded at Makeias' guards.

Wave gave them a glance. "I am sure you can understand that they are necessary."

"I never objected to their necessity. But you asked me how I felt so.." she said with a shrug.

Wave nodded. "Many in this camp fear you greatly."

"Do you fear me?" Leone said and smiled playfully at him.

"Should I?" Wave answered and gave her a more composed grin.

She leaned in towards him slowly. But Wave didn't back off. He held his ground. Looking at her while keeping his stale smile. When they were so close that Leone's nose was about to touch his, she backed off.

"Well, you have some balls, I will give you that." she giggled and took another swig of the wine.

"Thanks for that, I guess." Wave said and leaned forward a bit. Putting his elbows on his knees. "My lady, I want to ask you a question but first of all I need to know something."

"Okay."

"I need to know if you resent me." Wave said and turned his eyes to hers. "Leone of Night raid, do you hold a grudge towards me?"

Leone leaned forward a bit as well as she looked at him. Waiting for some moments before speaking. "Much of my life has been destroyed by the faction that you served for so long. In this struggle I have lost six of those dearest to me. Three of them at the hand of the jaegers. So what do you think?"

Wave just looked at her. His expression empty. Leone straightened up and drank deep from the wine. Giving it back to him when she was done. "So how many?"

"What?" Wave asked as his eyebrows raised slightly.

"How many of your friends have we killed? You have to be an idiot to only look at the casulties on your own side. The world is not black and white."

Wave was silent for some moments. Thinking about his history. "Three. Three of my dear and dysfunctional friends have been killed by Night raid. I am not able to count everyone I know that has fallen to this conflict."

Leone nodded. "Not that I think that these things can be measured that easily but it does seem like we are even in that regard."

"So it does." Wave said silently.

Leone looked at him for some moments. "I don't hold a grudge against you, Wave." she said and gave him a faint smile. "I know a little bit about you. Our spies have given us some information about your history. I know what happened at Garu and how you lost your eye."

Wave returned her small smile. "I am glad to hear that."

"Don't misunderstand me." Leone said and her smile grew wider. "If your faction chose to turn against us then I will beat the living shit out of you. But I will not resent you ,Wave. It seems clear to me that you are trying to make the situation better. In whatever misguided way you can."

"Well, thanks for that at least. If it is any help, I am no longer a member of the jaegers. As you know."

"So, what did you want to ask?"

Wave drank some of the wine before he spoke. "I am worried about Kurome. She took my place and I wish she hadn't."

Leone nodded slowly. She knew what he was talking about.

"I am afraid that she might not come out of this alive." Wave said somberly.

"Do you think that she will attack her captors?" Leone asked.

"No. I don't think that she will jeopardize this entire operation. Kurome is good at staying the course." he answered. Ignoring the little voice in the back of his head that was reminding him that she had already betrayed the empire by her own initiative. At least to some degree.

"Then you don't have anything to worry about." Leone said with a carefree shrug. "I doubt that she will come to any harm."

"Doubt?" Wave said and looked at her. The worry plain on his face.

"Well I can't guarantee anything." Leone admitted. "Those sisters have a strange relationship. I have talked a lot about this with Akame but I still can't understand it. In some strange way she regards Kurome as her responsibility. Since she couldn't make Kurome do the right thing she feels that she needs to be the one to stop her."

"I sort of know what you mean. Kurome has a similar idea of the situation. Just vice versa." Wave said and looked up at the sky. The last of the sunlight was disappearing and some of the stars were starting to become visible.

"It seems like they are both immensely stupid in their own way." Leone said with warm smile.

"Aye. So it does." Wave said and handed over the wineskin again.

"Though, as I said, I don't think you have anything to worry about. Akame is the one in control over the situation. Even if those two can't work things out through other means than fighting, Akame will not allow that to happen. She will prioritize the mission over her own wishes."

Wave sighed lightly. Allowing her reassurance to sink in. Even if he knew that she was uncertain herself.

"But you really seem worried about your colleague." Leone said and smiled mischievously at him. Leaning in towards him again. "Is she something more than that to you?"

"It's nothing strange about a commander worrying about his subordinates." he said and looked off to the side. Not meeting her eyes. But Leone could see the slight redness appearing on his face. Her instincts had been right.

"Ohhh?" she said. Leaning in even further. "I thought there was something more to it. The way she looked back at you as she left your group seemed so compassionate."

"You think so?" Wave said. His eyes immediately returning to hers. Too late realizing that he had walked right into the trap.

Leone got a triumphant look on her face as she leaned back. "I knew that there was something more between the two of you." she said and nodded to herself. "The way you simply accepted her decision to ignore your orders down at the meeting seemed a bit off."

Wave simply stayed silent and drank some of the wine.

"Sooo... it is easy to see that your relationship has become more intimate relatively recently." Leone thought out loudly. Grabbing her chin in a thinking pose. She looked at Wave. "Since you still seem to be unsure of how to handle the situation. Did you butter those biscuits recently?"

Wave started to cough heavily. Trying to speak up with wine in his throat. Leone just slapped him on the back.

"There, there. It is nothing to be flustered over. It's only healthy for two young lovebirds to explore those kind of things." she said loudly with a wide smile.

"We... cough have.. cough not.." Wave sputtered.

"Really? That's a shame." Leone said and gave him one last slap on the back. "A young warrior like her could need some exploring in her life." Leone said with a smile. "I have seen too many young boys and girls so focused on fighting that they die without ever experiencing some of the more basic joys of life."

Wave cleared his throat as Leone kept talking.

"Really, you should try to get to that. Doing the do might change your outlook a little. And it might get some of the ill will out of her system as well. People in our positions might die any day. You need to take care of all the opportunities that you have."

Wave looked at her as he straightened up a bit. "Even if you say that, Kurome and I are commander and subordinate. It would be inappropriate if we..." his voice trailed off.

"And gods forbide that we ever do anything inappropirate." a new voice called out to them from the side. The rather warm and friendly atmosphere dying immediately. Replaced by cold tensity. Leone and Wave both turned their head to their visitor.

Makeias was walking up to them. His ruined cloak blowing slightly in the wind. A step behind him walked Liza, the little blonde girl that now acted as his bodyguard as a punishment. She was wearing her usual attire. Dirty rags and a helmet way to big for her head. Both of them were barefooted.

Wave and Leone only stared at Makeias as he walked up to them. He himself could feel that he had killed the mood with his arrival.

"Ohh don't let me bother you. You seemed to be getting along fine."

Wave looked a bit uncertain of the situation while Leone glared at Makeias. "Can I help you, pillager?"

"I am actually only here because of you." Makeias said and smiled at her. "No one had seen you at your tent for a couple of hours now, so I was notified. And since I was close by I choose to handle it personally. I was worried that we had a situation but it seems like you were just out here drinkng with my dear admiral."

"Yeah." Leone said in a disinterested tone. "I was actually enjoying myself before you came here. For the first time in days."

"I couldn't help but notice that you already seemed to resent me when we first met down at that meeting. I don't remember harming you. So why the resentment?"

Leone looked at him for a moment before she spoke. "Did you kill Najenda?"

"I did." Makeias answered immediately. His smile lessening slightly.

"Then why do you need to ask that question?" Leone said. Open in her hostility.

Makeias shrugged. "Would you have preferred it if I let Esdese have her after I had beaten her then? I think you yourself know more than most what that would mean."

"Or you could have just rolled over and died." Leone said coldly. "Then a couple more thousands of people wouldn't have to suffer the looting and raiding you are currently bringing to them."

"You are being a bit unreasonable here, Leone." Makeias tried. His smile staying.

Leone rose up from the box. Dusting of her clothes. "I am heading back to my tent."

"Come on now." Makeias said as she started to walk past him. "Is there something I can do to elevate your opinion of me?"

Leone stopped when she was standing beside him. Makeias quickly jumped on her hesitation. "What if I gave you some valuable information? Huh?"

Leone gave him a sceptical look. "Like what?" she said. Her voice bored and annoyed.

Makeias smile grew wider. "How about the tale of Tatsumi the traitor?"

Leone immediately took the bait. "What do you mean? What more is there to know?"

"A lot." Makeias said engimatically. "A whole lot, actually. Few things are as they seem to be at first glance."

Leone turned towards him. No longer bothering with the subtle power play. The possibilities of what was to come was enough to make her discard all the charades. She still remembered so clearly how Tatsumi had come for her down in the torture chambers. She still wasn't sure of what to make of that. And he had fought against Makeias back in Garu. She still wanted to believe.

"What do you mean?" she repeated. "Tell me."

Makeias smiled. He reached out with a hand towards her. "Friends?"

Leone looked at him and then at his hand. The only part of him that wasn't covered in bandages. Apart from his head and bare feet.

"If we can't be friends then maybe we can at least regard each other as future allies?" Makeias tried and reached a bit further towards her.

Leone reached out to grab his hand. "Fine." she sighed reluctantly.

She didn't know what it was that gave her the warning. Maybe it was the way Makeias skin repelled her. Or maybe it was how the blonde little girl beside them seemed to be both annoyed and disgusted by Makeias' offered hand. Or maybe it was just her intuition. But for some reason, she knew what to do just a single moment before it was too late.

She stopped her hand. Just a centimeter from Makeias'. When she stopped Makeias moved in the last bit to grab her. And that was when she realized that something was up.

She immediately activated Lionelle. Her body changing in the fraction of a second. Makeias hand grabbing her large, more beastly hand. His eyes widening in suprise.

Now that Leone had the extreme instincts of Lionelle activated, she could feel it. Makeias might look suprised but whatever he had intended to do was still happening. Something was coming. Something from under his skin was getting ready to move over into hers. She didn't know what it was or why it was trying to move into her but she wouldn't allow it to do so without some resistance.

A tenth of a second after their hands had touched, Leone closed her beastly hand with all the strength she had. A fast as she could. Squeezing Makeias' hand until she felt several bones snap in her grip.

"Gaah!" Makeias exclaimed and immediately withdrew his hand from her grip. Tearing it away from her hold before Morbus had gotten a chance to work it's way into her now very resistant body.

He took a couple of steps backward. Holding his hand. Bent slightly forward.

Everyone around them moved extremely quickly.

As soon as Makeias had backed of, Liza put herself between Leone and Makeias. Smashing her naked foot down into the ground between them with such force that it created a small dust cloud around her knees.

The group of Makeias' personal guards that had been shadowing Leone all this while immediately leaped into action. All of them drawing their weapons. Creating a circle around them in less than two seconds. Wave only managed to get inside the circle of guards by immediately moving up behind Leone. A hand on his still sheated weapon.

"Let's just all calm down a bit here." Wave called out loudly. His eyes shifting from Leone to Liza and to the circle of tall guards that were slowly closing in around them.

"So Makeias uses a little child as his bodyguard?!" Leone shouted mockingly. Taking a fighting stance. "Does the little girl want to play with the grown-ups?" she taunted.

Liza smashed her fist into her open palm with such force that it created a loud bang. Wind blowing against Leone's face. A grin plastered on the small girl's face.

"Everybody just relax for a moment!" Wave shouted. "This is folly. Come on, Leone. Stop this."

"I was not the one to make the first strike, Wave." Leone shouted back without turning around. Her eyes glued to the little child in front of her.

Wave shifted his focus to Makeias. "General, make them stop. We're going to lose Kurome at this point."

Makeias looked at Wave for some moments. Then he simply turned around and walked away. Still slightly hunched over. Holding his heavily damaged hand.

For some moments it looked like he was just going to leave and let the situation unfold. But after he had taken a couple of steps, the little girl straightened up, spat to the side, and then turned around and ran after him.

Leone remained in her fighting stance, looking at the circle of drawn swords around her. But some moments after Liza had run off, they started to back away as well. Slowly withdrawing back to their usual distance.

A little while after that, Leone relaxed from her fighting stance. Straightening up a bit. Still keeping Lionelle activated. She looked after Makeias as he disappeared away into the camp.

"You have a funny way of picking sides, Wave." she said silently. "You leave the ice queen to join up with the pillager. Were there really no better choices around?"

"Don't think too badly of us, Leone." Wave said. Still unsure of what it was that had triggered that troublesome situation. "We are trying to make things better."

Leone sighed and looked at him. "You might be a bit naive Wave, I am as well, but at least you got some spine. Unlike that one." she said and pointed with her thumb over her shoulder. In Makeias' direction.

Wave looked at Makeias and then gave her doubtful smile.

"Ohh I am fully serious, Wave." Leone said. Deactivating Lionelle. Her appearance going back to normal. "He is recourceful and very dangerous, I am well aware, but he is still a coward at heart. He hates taking risks. I can tell."

Wave sighed. "Maybe you should go back to your tent, my lady. It seems like there is only trouble waiting for you out here."

"Yeah." Leone said. Looking around the camp. "You're probably right."

"Want me to walk you there?" Wave offered.

"I don't like to come off as needy but the fact is that I would probably not be able to find my way back without some guidance." she admitted.

Wave gestured with an arm for her to come with him and they started to walk through the active camp.

"By the way, Wave." Leone said after walking in silence for a while. "Do you know what the pillager was talking about regarding Tatsumi?"

"Nope. Can't say that I do." Wave answered honestly.

"Pity." Leone said. Walking with her arms behind her back.

Makeias' offer had managed to get her thoughts going. And a part of her instincts told her that there was something important hidden behind his words.

* * *

Tatsumi's chains clinked as he walked down the corridor. Surrounded by a group of guards. He was limping heavily on one of his legs. He wasn't even sure why. His feets and hands were chained together. Making it hard for him to walk, even without his damaged leg. All his chains were connected to a cable. Which the man behind him was holding. A giant of a man. Shirtless and muscular. Wearing one of the big helmets of a torture master.

The man's obvious proffesion made Tatsumi reason that they were on their way to the torture chambers.

He had come back to his conscious two weeks ago. Tied up in some sort of infirmary. Heavily bandaged and unable to move. Hurting greatly. Some attendants and doctors had come by after a while but none answered his questions. Or spoke to him in general. He had asked them what had happened and how he had gotten to the infirmary but no one talked to him.

He had considered to refuse to eat what they gave him in response. But in the end he decided against it. For all he knew, he might be sent to a painful execution at any time. So then it made no sense to torment himself since his fate was probably already sealed. So he stopped asking questions after a while. Simply eating the food and medicine they gave him. Making it easier for them to treat him.

And he had been hurting pretty badly. The biggest damage seemed to be his shoulder. It seemed like they had operated on him while he was knocked out. Since he could see that he had been stitched together. It still hurt a lot and he couldn't move one of his arms around very well but at least it didn't hurt when he remained still. His face had been a diffrent matter.

It seemed like the punch that had knocked him out had been a harsh one. His nose had been broken in three places and three of his front teeth knocked in. His face flattened out in the middle. But amazingly enough, the doctors had managed to fix him up him pretty well. But it had been one of the most excruciating experiences of Tatsumi's life. The worst had been the teeth. They had attached some sort of plastic holder to his face. Steadying it up to it's former position as they allowed it to heal by itself.

His mouth had been a diffrent matter. His teeth had been knocked in but they hadn't been shattered or torn completely from their sockets. So the doctors had done several operations on him and then attached a bracelet to him that had slowly pushed his teeth back into their places. It had hurt a lot. But the worst part was that it never stopped hurting. It hurt day and night, not allowing him to sleep properly. Only getting any proper rest when he was drugged down. When twelve days had passed and they finally removed it, Tatsumi had forgotten how it felt to be free from the pain. And astonishingly enough, when he explored his mouth with his tongue again, his teeth were back in their proper places.

During all this time and all his suffering, no one had come to talk to him. No one had come to visit him. He had no idea of what was happening in the world outside of the small room he was in.

But after two weeks of his isolated treatment, the guards came for him. Led by an officer and a torture master. He was chained up and then led away from the infirmary. One of the doctors coming with them. The group moving through the palace.

Tatsumi had tried to ask the guards about where they were heading but no one answered him. They also avoided eye contact with him. The only interaction he got from the group was from the torture master behind him. The big man giving him a hard shove whenever he was slowing the group down.

Tatsumi was almost convinced that he was heading for the torture chambers. He could see no reason as to why they would heal him and pamper him up if he was only heading for an execution. He reasoned that they wanted to build him up a bit before they broke him with torture. To make his fall more agonizing for him. Or more rewarding for them.

The group walked like that for half an hour. Not passing by a single person. Tatsumi still had a hard time determining where they were heading when they turned around a corner and walked into yet another long corridor. Empty with the exception of one person. The one that had put him in that state to begin with.

Esdese was standing beside the door on the other side of the corridor. Leaning her back against the wall. Her arms crossed over her chest. One of her hands holding Incursio. She straightened up when their group entered the room and started walking towards them. Meeting them at half the way.

Her expression was cold and hard. Tatsumi had a hard time reading anything from her except cold authority. Her presence just as strong and dominating as usual.

As she moved up to the group she met his gaze straight on. The first one who had looked him in the eyes for fourteen days. Just that little act made him smile faintly. She still acknowledged him. Maybe as an enemy or as a victim but she still gave him some sort of recognition. After being ignored by the world for two weeks, that meant something to him.

The guards stood at attention and saluted her when she got close. The doctor bowing deeply. Esdese didn't respond to any of them. Her unfriendly eyes glued to Tatsumi's. The group parted when it became clear that she wasn't interested in anyone else. She walked directly up to him.

"Hey." he said gently and silently when she got close.

Her free hand came up and gabbed his jaw in a hard grip. She turned his head to the side roughly. Causing Tatsumi to wince since his entire face was still sore. She looked at his head, up and down. She then turned it to the other side. Just as roughly. Examining that side as well. After that her fingers moved into his mouth. Forcing it open as she looked at his teeth. She let go of him after that.

"He is paler than I had hoped." she said in her hard and authorative voice.

"He will get some more color to his skin soon enough, great general" the doctor said in an apologetic voice. "He has been under intense care for two weeks straight. It is only natural that he might be a bit pale."

"And he is limping on his right leg." she said. Her voice foreboding.

"We decided to focus on his other wounds, great general. The damage in his leg will heal well enough on it's own."

"His chest posture is very stiff in comparison to the rest of his body." she said. "So I guess you didn't manage to fix his shoulder either."

"His shoulder is fixed, great general. It will just hurt for a couple more days." he said. When Esdese remained silent he continued on. "Excuse me if I step out of line, great general, but look at him. It has only been two weeks. His current condition is a small miracle. And we have worked tirelessly to make it so."

Esdese looked Tatsumi straight in the eyes. Her gaze hard and powerful. For the first time in a long while, he didn't want to meet it. But he did. For some reason he felt like he couldn't show her any hesitation right now.

"Very well." Esdese said and looked at the doctor. "You are dismissed."

The doctor bowed deeply and turned around. Walking away from the group. Esdese herself turned around and started walking in the opposite direction. The group starting to follow her after some steps. Tatsumi himself limping along the best he could.

But it was harder now. Esdese kept a slightly higher pace than they had before and the group moved to keep up. Making it hard for Tatsumi to keep up with them. It didn't take more than a minute before he started to stumble. Slowing down considerably. And when he did, the torture master behind him shoved him on forward. But since the tempo was too high, the shove was too hard.

Tatsumi's chains did not allow him to take longer steps. So he simply fell down on the floor. Catching himself with his hands as he landed on his knees. The group slowed down at this. Unsure of what they should do. The torture master behind him grew annoyed. Since it could be seen as a failure on his part since he was holding the prisoner.

"Get up!" he said angrily and pulled at Tatsumi's chains. Unknowingly making it harder for him to do so. Tatsumi slowly started to stand up but apparently not fast enough. The torture master put his foot on his back.

"Didn't you hear me?" he said a little bit louder and kicked Tatsumi in the back. Making him fall forward. Landing on his chest. The pain in his shoulder exploding. But Tatsumi managed to muffle his pained grunt. None of the guards noted it.

But she did.

It was apparent that the torture master thought that Tatsumi now was nothing more than a regular prisoner. That his betrayal had reduced him to just another of Esdese's victims. Another name in the long list. He didn't understand that Tatsumi would never be just another enemy to Esdese. He didn't understand that she still stayed true to her promises.

None in the group had time to react to the immediate response. Suddenly Esdese's heel hit the side of the torture master's knee in a stomping motion. The horrible attack sending the man's knee bending sideways in almost ninety degrees with a sickening crunch.

The man grabbed his leg and screamed as he fell down. All the guards around them jumped up as he did. Startled since they hadn't had time to react to Esdese changing her position.

Esdese would have paid more attention to a fly than the now screaming torture master. She bent down and picked up the leash to Tatsumi's chains. Moving some of her hair away as she did. She looked at him as she straightened up.

"Can you walk?" she asked in her cold voice. Her expression still hard.

"Yeah. I can." Tatsumi said and started to stand up.

Esdese waited until he stood up and then walked past him. Now carrying his leash herself as they walked on. Leaving the wounded man behind them. Esdese every now and then looking at Tatsumi over her shoulder. Checking that he was keeping up.

To Tatsumi's suprise, he quickly realized that they were not heading for neither the torture chambers or the prison dungeons. They were moving up into the higher levels of the palace. Where the elite lived. After walking for a while, he knew where they were heading.

Twenty minutes later they had arrived at Esdese's chambers. The guards walked with her into the rooms as she led the way. Tatsumi following behind her. He immediately noticed that something was diffrent. The big, beautiful rooms were not as deserted as usual. There were diffrent kind of smiths and construction workers on their way out of her chambers. Packing up equipment and materials as they prepared to leave.

Finally they reached their destination. A room in the middle of her quarters. The entire room had been remodeled from how it had been two weeks ago. And Tatsumi could see why.

The room looked like a very big prison cell. When you walked into it you were met with black bars, three meters into the room. They spread out in a long line. Sealing off the rest of the room. Behind the bars, the room was very spartan. It contained a bed in a corner, a chair, a table, some basic training equipment and a sofa. The room had no windows. It had one door except the one they moved in through. At the opposite side of the bars. Leading into some sort of bathroom.

An older man stood waiting for them when they entered. Clearly some kind of construction worker.

"Everyhting done?" Esdese asked as they entered.

"Just on schedule. As promised." the man said. Holding his own hands in front of him.

Esdese walked forward and grabbed one of the bars. Pulling at it strongly. But it didn't budge. She nodded. "And everything is up to the standards that I requested?"

"It is. The walls and floors have been fortified as well."

Esdese looked at the room for some moments. "Good. You will have the payment you wished for. Now leave."

The man bowed down and then hurriedly walked out of the room. Esdese walked over to the side of the room. A small pedestal with chains had been raised from the floor. A couple of meters to the left of the door that they had entered through. Some meters from the bars. It was easy to see that it was intended for Incursio. Esdese sealed the teigu into it. Locking it in place with chains that seemed to be made out of something other than steel.

Tatsumi looked at the strange pedestal. Wondering why they would keep Incursio in the same room as him. It seemed lika an unnecessary risk. Even if the iron bars would make him unable to reach it. Then Tatsumi suddenly remembered that he still had Morbus in his arm. And that infection might awaken if he didn't have Incursio close.

After she was done with Incursio, Esdese turned to the soldiers. She nodded to the doors. Dissmissing them with the gesture. They left immediately. Well atuned to their leader's commands.

Esdese walked into the cell with Tatsumi. Closing the bardoor behind her. When she turned around Tatsumi had also turned around. Looking at her.

"Hey." he tried again. His voice small.

She looked at him for some moments. Then she walked up to him and started to undo his chains.

"So what?" he asked. Trying to seem more relaxed than he was. "Is this where I am going to live now?"

"This will be your life from now on, Tatsumi." Esdese said. Her voice still cold and unfriendly. "You will never leave this room without being leashed up to me."

Tatsumi sighed. He still didn't know what she had found out. He knew that it must have been something rather grave. He stayed silent for some moments. He had thought about this a lot during his time in the infirmary but he couldn't really draw any conclusion when nobody spoke to him. But now she was talking to him. The best course of action seemed to be denial for now.

"Were you trying to kill me?" he asked. He didn't sound annoyed or complaining. Just sad.

"I intended to fight and defeat you. Wheter or not you survived was up to you." she said. Her voice still cold as she took off the last of his shackles.

"So it didn't matter to you then." he said. Trying to get eye contact with her as she looked at his chains.

"I never said that. I said that it was up to you to fight to survive. My course of action was always clear." she said as she took a step back from him. Looking him up and down.

"But that does mean that you didn't really care." he said. He didn't have to fake the pain in his voice. But nothing seemed to melt Esdese's coldness towards him.

"Do you think I would have gathered the best doctors to treat you and remodeled my own home if I didn't care?" she said. Irritation creeping into her voice.

Tatsumi stayed silent for a while after that. For the first time in a long while, it felt really hard for Tatsumi to approach her. He wanted to get close and hug her. He wanted to press himself against her. That usually made her irritation with him disappear. But it was much harder to do so now. He didn't know if she was no longer inviting him in some subtle way or if it was just because he himself felt more insecure about the situation.

He guessed that this was how most people usually felt around her.

After some long moments of silence, he tried to take a careful step towards her. "Why did you attack me?" he asked.

"If you didn't know that then you would have asked that question earlier." she said and crossed her arms over her chest. "I know."

"What do you know?" he asked and tried to move a little bit closer to her.

"Everything." she said and looked at him. Her eyes fierce and piercing.

That answer didn't help Tatsumi much. It could mean anything. He had no idea about how much she actually knew. But it was really hard to ask her about it without revealing anything. He decided to start as small as he could.

"Don't you remember the situation with Bellany? That was just false accusations as well."

"Bellany has already testified against you." Esdese said. Her eyes not leaving his.

That gave Tatsumi something. Esdese knew about the imperial archives. But did she know anything more?

"She also relieved me of those accusations before. What makes you believe her more now?"

"She is not the only factor, Tatsumi. I know that you have framed many diffrent leaders within the empire."

Tatsumi looked at her for some moments. He started to suspect that she was being vague on purpose. Was she trying to make him commit a mistake?

"People have been trying to fram me for something like this ever since I joined you. Why do you believe them now?"

"Because now it has been proven beyond doubt Tatsumi. I have given you the benefit of the doubt for a long time. But not anymore."

"So what, I will not even get a trial to defend my innocence?"

"If I would have allowed there to be a trial over your fate then your head would already be on a spike on one of the gates of the capital." Esdese said. "You are only alive because of my power. Because I could pull some strings and get you written off from the records."

"So these "offences" have been concealed from the rest of the empire?"

Esdese nodded. "A few people know about them. But they will stay quiet. Since they know that you won't be an issue anymore."

"What if I could provide you with proof of my innocence?" Tatsumi tried.

"Can you?"

That made Tatsumi stop and think. He couldn't really think of any, right now. Not anything that would alter the situation enough.

"What if I called upon some people to vouche for my innocence? If you allow me, I might be able to bring forth some people that can prove my innocence for me."

"Give me their names then, Tatsumi. I will handle their questioning in the torture chambers. When they are no longer able to think straight enough to make up a lie, I will trust their testimony."

"And by that time you will also have ruined them." Tatsumi said bitterly.

"I am not playing around with this situation. I will not take anymore risks." Esdese said. Her hard tone unyeilding.

It seemed to Tatsumi like he wouldn't be able to convince her of his supposed innocence. He needed to try and handle this situation out from the assumption that he would not be able to convince her otherwise.

He looked her in the eyes for a long time. Then he slowly took a carefule step towards her. It was much harder to do than he had thought. Before this it had always been his mind that struggled against his body's wish to be near her. His flesh and instincts drawn to her. But not now. Now he just felt insecure. He didn't know what their relationship was anymore. He didn't even know if he still had her affection or if she was just keeping her promises.

Her eyes followed him as he took another step towards her. Her expression still cold as she looked down on him. He slowly rose one of his hands up. Looking at her with uncertainty as he moved it towards her. She just looked at the hand and remained passive. Neither encouraging or dicouraging him.

He gently put his hand over the side of her stomach. Where his hit had landed during their fight. He looked up at her.

"Does it still hurt?" he asked silently.

"It stopped hurting three days ago." Esdese answered. Her voice empty and matter-of-factly. Tatsumi couldn't help but notice that her expression had gone from cold to empty.

Tatsumi very slowly and gently started to rub his hand over the spot. His hand moving over the smooth fabric of her uniform. "I'm sorry." he said silently.

"It was a good hit, Tatsumi. You should be proud over it." she said.

Tatsumi looked down at where his hand was touching. Lightly pressing his hand into the side of her stomach. Feeling the softness of her skin and the hard muscles underneath it.

"I love you." he said lowly. Without looking up at her.

Esdese was silent for some long seconds before she answered. "And I love you, Tatsumi." she sighed and tenderly put her hand over his. "Fighting you for real has made me realize that I will probably always love you."

"Even though you were okay with me dying in our fight?" Tatsumi said and looked up at her.

She nodded while looking him in the eyes. A serious expression on her face. "But now I know that I can't let you run free. I now know that I will never be able to control you fully. So I will need to restrict you. Since I now have learned that I can't trust you."

For some reason that hit Tatsumi really hard. Not only for the devestating effect that simple statement had on his plan, but also because of something else. Something deep inside of him was hurt by those words.

"You need to trust me." he said and looked up at her. "I have not betrayed you in-

Smack!

The slap was quick and hard. Causing his head to move to the side. Esdese moving her hand way too fast for him to have a chance to see it coming without Incursio.

"Don't lie to me." Esdese ordered in a hard tone.

Tatsumi looked at her in suprise.

It was not the act in itself that had suprised him. It hurt a lot, his current state only amplifying it, but he had learned to live with pain. It was not the slap itself that hurt him the most but the manner in which it was delivered. Esdese had slapped him uncountable times before. Either when she was reprimanding him or when she was playing around with him. But this was diffrent. There was no underlying affection or joy in it. The only feeling he got from her was cold muteness. She was hitting him just like she hit her pets.

She was training him.

Tatsumi's eyes got filled with a hurt expression. Looking directly at her. Met by her cold blue eyes. "So that is it, huh? Now I am nothing more than another one of your pets."

"You will always be the only person in this world that I will ever love. I know that now, Tatsumi. But from now I will have to treat you more like one of my pets. Giving you privileges only seems to make it harder for me to keep you. I will need to reforge a bit of your free will. I will need to train you a bit."

"Then I am just another pet now, aren't I?" Tatsumi said. Sounding upset.

"No, you are not."

"What is the diffrence if I am treated just like one?"

"All the diffrence in the world." Esdese said. He thought he could see a hint of that affection in her face but it was so faint that might just imagine it. "Do you think I would ever allow one of my pets to live after talking back to me?"

"But you will not trust me anymore?" Tatsumi asked. His voice small.

"You have proven yourself that I can't do that." Esdese answered coldly. "I always knew that you would be a bit unruly. But there is diffrence between beating up some of my subordinates and honestly working to topple the very empire that I have sworn to protect."

With those simple words, Esdese made it clear to Tatsumi just how grim his situation was. And far beyond the scope that she was aware of. If she wouldn't trust him then he wouldn't be able to do anything anymore.

"Will you at least let me have some visitors?" Tatsumi said and looked at her. Searching for a solution in his well-hidden panick.

"Maybe sometime in the far future. But I will supervise your meetings personally so it will only be when I have the time. So not so often."

Tatsumi felt like someone had poured a bucket of ice over him.

It was over.

He would not be able to interact with the world outside at all for months, maybe years. And even then he would not be able to do much if Esdese would keep an constant eye on him. He had been too slow. And now the prime minister had managed to render him useless by Esdese's own hand.

He had lost.

Pain filled Tatsumi's face. Esdese looked at him.

"Besides myself, you are now the strongest warrior in the empire, Tatsumi. It does not become you to let a simple slap cause you tears."

Anger filled Tatsumi at those words. Born from sadness and pain. "Yeah, cause that is the only thing that you will ever understand, isn't it?" he said. Much louder than he had intended. "Strength and pain. Those are the only things that you can wrap your head around."

Esdese's eyes narrowed but she didn't say anything as Tatsumi continued. His voice growing louder with every word.

"You are nothing but monstrous hurricane of suffering and despair. You had the luck to be born with the potential to become the most powerful being in existence. And you have only exploited that opportunity. You can't even cause happiness when you try to. All you try to protect and lead either die or turn against you. And you don't even seem to realize that you are the cause of it."

Tatsumi was basically shouting now but Esdese stayed still and looked at him. Listening to him.

"You are the reason why everything is going wrong for every group of people that try to follow you. Haven't you understood that yet?" he shouted at her. All his panicked sadness driving him on. His despair making him lose his composure. "You are incomplete. Dysfunctional and broken. You lack half of what makes a human being. And instead of that your other abilities got so much stronger. Cause you lack compassion! You don't know what empathy is! And you don't have the slightest idea of what love is-

Smack!

The second slap echoed loudly through the room. The force of it causing Tatsumi to stumble slightly to the side. Both his chins bright red now. A suprised expression on his face. His eyes slowly traveled back to Esdese's. Met by the same hard coldness of her eyes.

She met his gaze steadly. Still holding up the hand that had delivered the slap. He looked shocked and hurt. She could even see a slight bit of fear hiding in his expression. But then it all disappeared under a deep frown.

He swung at her with the arm that was not attached to his damaged shoulder. Esdese catched the fist in her hand before it had even reached the mid-way point between them.

She raised her eyebrows a bit. There was no strength in the punch. No real force behind it. She looked at him for some moment. His frown was gone once again. Replaced by that deeply pained and sad expression.

She started to close her hand around his fist. As punishment for trying to hit her. She squeezed it way past the point of pain for him yet his expression didn't change. To her suprise. She closed her hand as much as she dared without damaging his bones. But his expression still didn't change. He was just looking at her with those hurt eyes. His expression still.

After some moments she stopped applying the pressure. Since it didn't seem like he cared if she crushed his hand or not. She slowly let it go. Her arm falling down to her side. They both stood like that for a while. Just looking at each other. Trying to understand what their relationship was right now. After a long while, Tatsumi spoke.

"Please don't do this, Esdese." he said. His voice small and timid.

She turned around and started to leave.

Tatsumi got a suprised look but then immediately followed her. Still not knowing why he was limping so heavily.

"Don't lock me up here. I will wither away." he tried as he struggled to catch up with her as she walked through the room. "I will never grow stronger if I can't face any new challenges."

Esdese didn't slow down her brisk walk. Tatsumi tried to catch up with her but due to his limping he started to stumble and fell over. Letting out a small shout as a blast of pain hit his body. Still extremely sore from all the intense treatment.

The sound of his pained scream made Esdese stop in the doorway of the bars. She stood there for some moments. Not turning around or looking at him. Then she walked out of the enclosed part of the room. She turned around and closed the bardoor. Locking it behind her. She looked at him as he lay there on the floor. Staring at her with begging eyes.

"This will be your life from now on, Tatsumi."

With those words she turned around and walked out of the room.

"Wait! Esdese!" Tatsumi shouted but she slammed the door shut behind her with such force that it was a wonder that it didn't break.

Tatsumi stared at the door for a long time. Not bothering with getting up. It didn't matter. Nothing seemed to matter anymore, to him. All was lost. He remained there on the floor as the full gravity of the situation dawned on him.

Sheele had died fighting the injustice and cruelty of the empire.

His brother had died while giving him his own power. Entrusting him to continue his fight after he had died.

Chelsea had lived a life of regret and death. Yet had tried to use her horrible skills to make things right. Being dissected for information as a result.

Lubbock had died fighting to the bitter end. Struggling. Unwilling to give up until his body was completely destroyed.

Mine was tortured to death. Suffering one of the worst ends possible. Only because she had tried to save him.

Najenda had died while knowingly fighting a battle she couldn't win. Sacrificing herself for the dream of a better world.

All of them had tried. All of them had fought. All of them had paid a grim price.

His friends. His family.

And he had failed them all.

He had partnerd with the enemy they had fought together. He had stood by as the empire continued to supress the weak and destroying those that opposed it. And the worst part of it all was that he had enjoyed it. He had denied and ignored it a lot. And Esdese had pointed it out many times. He had always known that she was right. He had enjoyed the comforts and privileges of being her partner.

He had always justified it with the fact that he was fighting the empire in his own way. Slowly working towards it's fall. One small step at the time. But now he had failed.

He had failed to make it all meaningful. He had failed to give a purpose to his friend's sufffering. He had failed to justify his own actions.

Now it didn't matter whatever plans or ideas he might have had. The only thing he had managed to accomplish was fornicating with the enemy of all his friends's dreams and hopes.

Without the justification of making the empire fall from behind the scenes, he had no way to defend himself against the dark redemption of his own morals.

He had betrayed them. As simple as that. He had covered the fact up with his greater intent and his hidden ambition. But now those plans had failed. His hopes had died. The simple fact of the situation staring him in the face. He had left them to their struggles while he took up the comforts of being Esdese's mate.

Tatsumi curled up on the floor as the full scope of the situation fell down on him.

He started to cry.

Slowly and silently at first but slowly growing more strongly. He tried to supress himself for some time but then realized that it didn't matter anymore. Nothing mattered anymore. And as he lay on the floor, sobbing violently, he understood that there was another reason he was hurting so badly. He realized that the fact that he had probably destroyed his relationship with Esdese hurt him greatly. Almost more than the fact that his plan had failed.

And that realization only made him more disgusted with himself. The fact that he wanted that relationship back filled him with self-loathing.

He wanted to die.

He cried for almost forty minutes before sleep took him. He fell asleep right there on the floor. Not even bothering with getting to the bed. It didn't matter to him. Nothing mattered anymore.

When he had slept for almost ten minutes, Esdese started to stir behind the door. Slowly moving away.

She had stopped on the other side of it after she had closed it. Listening to his crying. Observing him while remaining hidden. Just like she had visited him during his drugged down sleep in the infirmary. Looking at him through the nights. Bringing Incursio with her. Since she was afraid that Morbus would awaken if Tatsumi didn't have his teigu close to him every now and then.

It was back. That horrible pain in her chest. She had almost forgotten how bad it could ache. She had stood there on the other side of the door, holding a hand over her chest as she listened to his sobs. It hurt her so badly.

Every fiber of her body wanted to go back in there. She wanted to scoop up her badly hurting mate and carry him to the bed. She wanted to hold him and lick up his tears. She wanted to shower him with kisses until he wasn't hurting anymore.

But she couldn't. She wouldn't allow herself. Even if it took a lot of effort to quell the wish of her strong instincts.

She needed to do this. He had left her no choice. She would have to solve this somehow. She would have to make this work again. In some way. She would have to completely restrain him for a start. Then she would need to retrain him. She would need to make him behave again.

She slowly started to walk away from the door. Her pace slowly increasing until she was walking briskly. Her steps steering her towards the torture chambers. She needed to get some of this out of her. She needed to destroy something.

Something beautiful.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**In the end this chapter grew extremly long as well. The three latest chapters have been some of the longest I have written. These scenarios have needed to breath a lot more than I expected.**

**This story got a dose of hate/trolling during the week that was. However, for every hateful comment that was posted, I got several messages and comments defending this story and urging me to ignore the negativity. The whole experience became very encouraging. Thank you!**

**We are now about halfway through this arc. The next chapter should be in about ten days. I know that I said that this one would be released after seven and failed miserably, but I think that the next chapter won't be as long. Hopefully.**

**Thanks for reading and thanks for all the reviews/comments. They are what keeps this show going.**

**Take care of each other.**


	31. Pieces

**Chapter delayed because of irl distractions.**

* * *

**Pieces.**

Tatsumi could tell that Esdese had company long before she entered his room. He could tell that there was a rather big group that walked with her through the doors to her quarters. A couple of rooms away from him.

He was sitting on the floor in his large cell. For some reason he preferred to not use the furniture in it. He didn't know why but the only thing he had really used in his cell was the bed. He guessed that it was some sort of protest against his imprisonment but he honestly didn't know. The thought of refusing to sit on the chairs he had been provided just seemed pathetic to him. Yet he still preferred to sit on the floor.

This had made Esdese change the furniture in the room a couple of times. Changing his chairs and table, since he didn't use them. Hoping that he would start using them if she just found some that he liked. But it had not given her any results. Their communication in general had been very strained ever since he was put in his cell.

Tatsumi had been locked up in that room for almost three weeks now and their relationship had become a strange tug of war of affection and coldness.

Tatsumi refused almost any contact with her that didn't concern the important issues. When would he be allowed to have visitors? What was happening outside? What could he do to make her more likely to set him free? But Esdese had little interest in talking with him about these things. Giving him the cold shoulder whenever he tried to talk to her about it. Being cold, hard and rather unfriendly when it came down to those things.

When it came to everything else, their roles were reversed. Esdese wanted to do everything with Tatsumi that didn't concern the things that were so important to him. She wanted to talk and joke around with him, as they had done before. She wanted to cuddle and wrestle. She wanted to kiss and bite him. She wanted to be intimate and loving. She wanted to push him around in that affectionate and dominating way. She wanted things to be like they had been before.

But in those scenarios it was Tatsumi that acted distant and apathetic. Ignoring her words and not responding to her in any way. Not giving her any of those things that he knew that she craved until she gave him some ground on the things that he was most concerned about. Which she hadn't done yet.

And so it had gone on. Both of them taking turns in trying to get what they wanted from each other. Both trying to regain diffrent parts of what had been. Both of them wanting to give in to the other one's wishes but not allowing themselves to do so.

Esdese's visits had been a bit random but somewhat regular. Coming by at least once every two days. Whenever she managed to get a break from her extensive duties. Sometimes just to try and hug him and talk. Sometimes walking over in the middle of the night in nothing but her shirt. Often feeling that her own large bed now suddenly felt way too empty and lonely. Crawling down into Tatsumi's small bed and then holding him in an iron grip throughout the night. Not allowing him to move about.

Sometimes she came over with food that she had made for him. Instead for his usual meals. Always trying to feed him what she had made. Trying to turn it into a game. Not letting him have any until he let her feed him herself. Wanting him to submit to her wish to care for him. But Tatsumi never played along. When Esdese denied him the food for too long, he simply stopped trying. Abandoning his attempts at getting food. Moving away from her. Despite both of them hearing the growling of his stomach.

Sooner or later Esdese usually gave up and let him eat the food on his own. Not wishing to deny him. Not wanting to nurture any anger he held towards her. Not when she could avoid it. Watching how he ate from some meters away.

These days had been a hard balance for her. She intended to change some parts of him. But she didn't want to damage the other parts that she loved so much. She was somewhat unsure of how to proceed. So she had chosen to play it slow. She felt no need to be hasty about this. She didn't want to make any mistakes in this situation. Even if she so badly wanted things to return to what they had been.

And so three weeks had passed.

Tatsumi sat on his knees by the bars in his cell and waited as he heard how the group closed in on his position. Keeping his eyes on the door.

Esdese entered the room alone. Even if Tatsumi could tell that the rest of the group was waiting just on the other side of the door. His years of training giving him the perceptive abilities to do so. Some parts of him were quite well developed even without the power of Incursio.

Esdese gave Tatsumi a glance when she entered. Then looking over at Incursio. Checking that it was still locked up in it's place. After that she walked up to the bars. She grabbed one of them with a hand and bent forward a bit so that she was closer to the level of his eyes.

"How are you doing there, my cute little thing?"

Tatsumi met her gaze. "I sure could go for a walk out in the sun."

Esdese ignored his not so subtle request. "I think you would be more comfortable in one of the chairs."

Tatsumi just glared at her in response.

"There, there. Don't pout like that." she said and reached a hand in between the bars. But as it was about to land on Tatsumi's chin, he edged back slightly. Moving out of her reach. Esdese's hand hovered in the air in front of his face for some moments before she straightened up.

She sighed. "You know that even if I didn't have the keys to your cell, I could just destroy these bars and catch you in a heartbeat."

"You could." Tatsumi answered emptily.

"So then why do you put up this petty resistance against me, when you know that I could easily crush it and take what I want."

"I don't want to make you believe that you have my consent to anything." Tatsumi said. Coldness moving into his voice.

Esdese just looked at him for some moments. He had hit his head on the nail of her problem. His consent. Or rather, his responses to her advances. That was what she wanted back. That other half of what their interactions had been. But she was determined to get it back. She had taken him back before. She could do it again. Even though things were admittedly more complicated than ever this time.

But even so, she enjoyed just being near him. Even like this.

"In due time, Tatsumi." Esdese said. Her usual confident smile forming on her face. "In due time."

"Why did you come here?" Tatsumi asked indifferently.

"Do you think I need any other reason for coming here than wanting to be close to you?"

"You usually don't bring a group of people with you when you just want to see me." Tatsumi said and nodded towards the closed door.

Esdese smile grew a little as she started to walk along the line of bars. "So you're still able to sense them even without Incursio. That makes me happy."

Tatsumi kept silent and looked at her. Her tone was making him cautious. It was a bit too sweet. It almost felt threatening. There was also a certain gleam in her eyes that made him wary.

"I am quite a busy woman, as you well know, Tatsumi. I would not have been able to meet with you today if I had handled my duties normally. So I decided to move some of them here."

She snapped with her fingers and the group outside of the room started to move in through the door.

"So that I can enjoy your company while I work." she said and looked at those entering.

The group that walked into the room carried a strangely formed table with them. Most of them were soldiers. Accompanied by two torturers. Tatsumi watched the group with unconcealed contempt. He recognized what that table was used for. It was a torture bench. After they mounted the table up on the other side of the bars, the torturers started to leave. Tatsumi's eyes moved to Esdese's as they did. But she was only smiling at him.

He was wondering if the bench was intended for him but he highly doubted it. And his theory was swiftly confirmed when the next pair walked through the doors. To his dismay.

He immediately recognized the two persons that walked into the room. The first one was a man in his fifties. He was slightly overweight and was wearing the uniform of the more highly revered guards down in the dungeons of the palace.

It was Juro of the imperial guard. Carrying a backpack over his shoulder. Leading the one beside him with chains.

Tatsumi knew the officer from before. He was one of his contacts. Juro had helped him meet with Leone just after she was captured so long ago. The man had been loyal to Tatsumi after he had provided him with medicine for his children. Medicine that Juro himself could not afford. The man had no idea about Tatsumi's information network or his ,now not so hidden ,agenda. He had just helped Tatsumi with some small favours under the table here and there. Such as arranging his short meeting with Leone.

But it was not the appearance of Juro that made Tatsumi halt his breath. It was the young woman beside him. The girl walking on shaky legs with her back bent forward. Her shoulder slumped and her head facing the floor. She was wearing what looked like a bar maid's uniform. Even if it was dirty and torn.

Tatsumi felt dread fill him at her appearance. He knew who she was even with all her brown hair covering her face.

She was his main informant in the capital. Disguised as a bar maid. Working in a bar in the slums. She was a focal point in the criminal information network in the capital. He had talked to her a hundred times. She knew almost everything that he had done. And a great deal more than just that. Since he came to her for information. He didn't even know her name. They had kept that out of their relation for security reasons.

His eyes widened slightly when he saw her but he managed to stop any other reaction from showing. He could feel Esdese's gaze on him without even looking at her. She was searching for a reaction from him. Studying him. Trying to see if he recognized them.

Tatsumi immediately realized that this was not a coincidence. He felt fear for what was going to happen. Not that he showed it. He turned his eyes to Esdese.

"I would prefer to not have to watch your torture sessions." he said coldly as the soldiers started to lock the woman to the torture bench.

Esdese tilited her head slightly to the side as she looked at him. Smiling. "Is that really all there is to this, Tatsumi?"

"What do you mean?" he asked. Doing his best to seem indiffrent.

Esdese just smiled at him. Her eyes slightly amused.

When the soldiers had locked the girl down on the bench they left the room. Leaving Tatsumi alone with Esdese, Juro and the now locked down girl.

Esdese moved her gaze to the girl and walked over to her. She nodded to Juro when she got close. The man immediately drew his knife. Tatsumi slowly stood up in his cell. He slowly started to walk towards the bars.

"Why are you doing this, Esdese?" he asked and looked at her.

"We have reason to believe that this woman has been working to undermine the military for many years now. But we don't know to what extent." Esdese said and took a couple of steps towards the torture bench. "So we are going to have a nice long talk and see what we can find out."

As she said that, Juro started to cut through the clothes the girl was wearing. Working his way through her entire attire until she was laying completley naked on the bench. Tatsumi tried to get eye contact with the man but when he finally met his gaze, it scared him. Juro's eyes were empty and distant. Lacking all the warmth and kindness that they usually had. It made Tatsumi uneasy.

Esdese looked the woman up and down.

"Well, someone has been taking care of herself." Esdese praised. "You must have been able to draw a lot of customers with this body."

"Jealous?" the girl said with exhausted defiance. Speaking for the first time since she had entered.

"Do I seem like someone who is insecure about myself?" Esdese said and put her hands on her hips. "Just wanted to give credit where credit is due. Not that you will be pretty for much longer."

"Are you really going to torture her just because of some meager suspicion?" Tatsumi asked. Already knowing the answer. "This seems unreasonable."

"The evidence against her is far from meager." Esdese said calmly. "The only question is how grave her crimes are."

Tatsumi was unsure of how hard he could press against Esdese in this situation before it started to seem suspicious. Not that he thought that his own situation would grow any worse if his involvment with her was revealed. He was only afraid of her fate. He had to try and save her. But it was a hard thing to do in this scenario.

He walked up to Esdese. Stadning next to her on his side of the bars. He looked at Juro. Esdese noticed his gaze. Her not so friendly smile widening slightly.

"Ahh Tatsumi, my reports tell me that you have met Juro from the imperial guard already." she said and gestured to the older man.

Tatsumi looked up at her. Her eyes were smiling at him in a way that made him very uncomfortable. She had some sort of plan here and he didn't know just how bad the situation was. But just deeming from her behaviour, he would guess that it was pretty bad.

"We have met before." Tatsumi said emptily and returned his eyes to Juro. The man met his gaze but Tatsumi could not read anything from him.

Esdese nodded. "Well then, Juro. Start giving her some of the injections."

At first the man shied away from her when she spoke but when she made her request he immediately started to search through his backpack with a almost frantic enthusiasm.

Tatsumi just looked at him for some moments. The realization dawning on him. It was something about his posture and demenaour that gave it away. He was a seasoned man, with all the confidence and experience that warranted from a soldier. He had always had a certain pride and dignity to him. But not anymore. It was as if he was a completely diffrent person. Tatsumi suddenly knew what had happened.

He turned his eyes to Esdese. Not able to hide some of the anger in his voice. "What have you done to him?" he asked.

Esdese returned her gaze to Tatsumi. "I thought it would take longer for you to realize it." she complimented. "I see that confinment haven't dulled your insincts yet."

"What have you done to him?" Tatsumi asked again. His voice irritated. Failing a little to keep his emotions at bay.

Esdese turned her smile to the older man. "I don't think it is fitting for you to keep this charade up, Juro. My partner has already seen through it. You should start behaving like what you really are again."

Juro had frozen when she spoke but as soon as she was finished, he put the backpack down beside him. He quickly started to take off his clothes.

"Esdese." Tatsumi demanded.

"Were you close to this man, Tatsumi?" Esdese answered as she watched Juro undress. A certain dark satisfaction in her voice. "Because all my reports only say that your relationship with this man was shallow at most."

"Yeah but that doesn't mean that I enjoy seeing him reduced like this." Tatsumi said. "Why have you done this to him?"

"He has stepped over his boundaries many times during his service, Tatsumi. Sometimes aiding you while he did." she said and shot Tatsumi a glance. "So I decided to see just how much he knew about your betrayal."

"Is that all it takes nowadays?" Tatsumi asked rheotorically. "A slight little suspicion."

Esdese turned her eyes to the man in question. "Don't stand so straight, Juro." she ordered as the man was removing the last of his clothes. "That makes it seems like you are our equal."

The man immediately went down on his knees. Keeping his head down. Tatsumi looked at the man. His stomach and chest was wide. His age was showing. His entire body was covered in red marks. Way to wide and large to have been cause by something akin to a whip.

Tatsumi didn't want to know what even half of them were from. His face filled with pain.

"That is more appropirate." Esdese said calmly. Her eyes leaving the man. "You can resume your task now."

Juro crawled over and started to dig through the backpack again. Tatsumi crouched down so that they were on the same level.

"Come on, Juro. You are better than this and you know it." he said loudly.

"The word you're searching for is "was", Tatsumi." Esdese interjected cruelly.

Tatsumi shot her an angry glance and then looked at the man again. For some moments the older man met his eyes but they were as empty and bereft of emotions as the eyes of a dead man.

"Snap out of it, Juro. "

Esdese giggled slightly. "It is futile, Tatsumi. He doesn't want to come back."

Tatsumi kept trying. Even if he had a feeling that she was right. "Think about your children. Do you think they would want to see their father like this. The father that they are so proud of."

"He doesn't have any children anymore, Tatsumi." Esdese's sweet voice informed him. He turned his eyes to her. "I fed them to him two days ago."

Tatsumi's face grew empty at those words. His expression blank. He slowly rose up.

"The flesh that he put on this earth has returned to him. That is almost always a good way to break a parent's psyche." Esdese continued. Sounding as if she was talking about the weather. "Seeing their children suffer and die because of them often makes people flee to places in their heads where they don't have to deal with the rest of the world anymore. And they rarely come back after that. Considering that I later fed him food made of his own children probably seals that deal. Since I told him about it afterwards."

Tatsumi immediately shifted focus. Juro's fate filled him with bitterness but he had to focus on saving the girl in some way. Since Juro was already done. And while Juro had known little about Tatsumi's plans, the girl knew almost anything. And she was next. He looked over at her. Their eyes meeting.

Suddenly Esdese was standing right beside him. He didn't know when she had gotten so close. She reached in with an arm between the bars and grabbed his jaw in a very gentle grip. She turned his face to her. Moving him closer to her own face.

Before Tatsumi had decided if it would be better to go along with her or oppose her, Esdese stole a kiss from him. Quickly and lightly pressing their lips together between the bars. She looked at him as they seperated. Her tone dangerously sweet when she spoke.

"Do you know anything about this woman, Tatsumi?"

Tatsumi already knew what he was going to say. But first he looked over to the torture bench. The girl chained down to it meeting his gaze. None of them nodded or gave each other any signs or revealing gestures. But Tatsumi could see the strong determination in the girl's brown eyes. They had an understanding.

"No, I can't say that I remember her from anywhere."

"Is that so?" Esdese said and moved a bit away from his face. "You see, I have been told that you used to frequent the bar that this girl worked undercover in."

"Maybe." Tatsumi said and shrugged. "Do you remember the face of every attendant you meet?"

Esdese nodded. "Reasonable. So I guess that you don't care about what happens to this traitor then?"

"I would prefer it if you didn't do this. I have seen enough suffering for several lifetimes already."

"You are strong, Tatsumi. You will manage. Unlike this young girl." Esdese said and let go of his face. Turning towards the torture bench.

Tatsumi followed her on his side of the bars as she walked towards the chained up girl.

"Come on, Esdese. I don't think I can stomach more violence right now. Don't do this." Tatsumi tried. A bit of his panic showing through.

"I will need to find out exactly what this girl knows. This is the easiest way to do so."

"Do you have to do it here then?" he asked in a desperate attempt to buy time. He reached out between the bars and grabbed one of Esdese's hands. "Can't you at least give me that?"

Their physical contact made Esdese stop. Looking down at his hand. It had been rare for him to touch her on his own accord ever since she put him in this cell. Her smile widened even more. She knew that this had been a good idea.

Her hand suddenly tightened around his own in an iron grip. She quickly pulled it out between the bars. Causing his body to ram into them. Then she leaned in and put her nose into his hair. Esdese forcing his entire body against the bars by her strong pull at his arm.

She drew a couple of deep breaths of his smell as she whispered. "I would give you so much if I just knew that I had you. Just give yourself to me like you used to do. Let me have what I want."

"Will you spare her if I do?" Tatsumi asked silently. Trying to struggle against her pull. Even if he knew that it was futile.

Esdese rubbed her nose against his head some more. "No." she answered calmly. Suddenly her hand let go off his. Making him fall down on his back into his cell. Since he had been pulling against her hold.

"I have a duty. I will need to learn what this girl knows. Since I can't trust you."

Tatsumi quickly rose up but Esdese had walked away from the bars. "Give me my tools, Juro." Esdese ordered as she walked up to the girl.

"Won't you listen to anything I have to say?" Tatsumi shouted and grabbed the bars.

"I listen to everything you have to say." Esdese said. Taking a small bag of tools that Juro held out for her. "But I need to find out what this girl knows. Though you can bargain about her death with me, Tatsumi."

She brough up a metal tool from the bag. It looked like some sort of pincer but Tatsumi knew it's purpose. He had seen Esdese use it before. Back when she forced him to visit the torture chambers with her. Back when he had just gone over to her. Back when he had just started to create his schemes.

It was a tool that was meant to keep the victim's eye open against their will.

Esdese caressed the side of the girls face softly with her free hand as she moved the tool closer to her face.

"If you make me a good enough offer, Tatsumi, I will end this girl as soon as I think she has told me everything." Esdese said to him without leaving the girl's eyes with her own. The young girl's gaze frantic and scared. Even if she still kept her composure.

Tatsumi knew that it was a bad situation but desperation still made him go on. He immediately started to bargain with Esdese to lessen the girl's suffering. Raising his voice in order to be heard over the girl's whimpering as Esdese began her work. Using the only thing he could barter with.

Himself.

* * *

The wind blew heavily outside of the windows and the sound of rain smattering against the glass could be heard clearly. Nothing but darkness could really be seen through the windows of the train as it stormed through the wilderness. It felt like the insides of the rapidly moving train was the only thing remotely alive in the entire world.

Akame walked through room after room. Moving towards the back of the train. Moving between the giant carts. Nodding to the few people that she knew as she passed them. The train was so large that each carts was made of up several rooms, not only lenghtwise but sidewise as well. Forcing Akame to sometimes travel from side to side in the carts in order to reach their end.

The rooms she wakled through were filled with people. Most belonging to the revolutionary army and it's allies. The carts closest to the front of the train was more decorated and furnished. Including mats, tables and chandliers. Most of the leaders and members of the administrative part of the organization resided there. Discussing plans around tables while they ate or worked through stacks of paper.

The further back you got through the train, the less furnished and more barren the rooms were in terms of decorations. They were still filled with people though. Soldiers and warriors. Sitting together on stools around boxes or windows. But the rooms were still bright, warm and filled with the smell of food. A very nice atmosphere in contrast to the howling of the wind and intense raining that she had to face when she walked between the carts.

She was followed by the leader of the Path of peace. Walking by her side in his long robes. Talking to her in his mellow tone as they traveled through the rooms.

"But everything is ready, either way." he calmly stated.

"And you are sure that they won't be able to find a trace of what it actually was before? If Makeias realize where he is then that might change the outcome of this plan completely."

"I am sure. The pillager won't have a clue of what he has walked into. Should the negotiations turn grim."

"My guts tell me that they will." Akame said lowly.

"Then why still have this meeting?"

_Because we have to stop Makeias, one way or another_, she thought. "We need to give peace a chance."

"Agreed." the tall man beside her said. Akame could hear the doubt in his voice. She wondered if it was directed at her intentions or whatever or not diplomacy had any real chance.

"Either way, Makeias has finally decided on a time. I expect you to attend that meeting once again." she stated. It was an order, even if her tone didn't suggest it.

"I had hoped to avoid it. Especially if you think this meeting might devolve into violence. Me and mine are not fighters. We would just get in your way."

Akame looked at the man over her shoulder. He was for once not wearing the huge animal skull that was a part of his religious attire. But his face gave her no clue to his real intentions. His expression comforting even if his eyes were sad. She didn't know if she could trust the man entirely.

When the revolutionary army's chances of winning their conflict had started to shrink, his side of the Path of peace had stood strong with them. Showing no intention of leaving their side. But a lot of things had happened since then. Most notably had been how they had revealed to night raid that they would be having a meeting with Makeias in secret, just a day before the meeting would take place.

Akame had happened to be nearby and made an attempt at finishing the general off but had sadly failed. A failure that remained in her nightmares to this day. Constantly providing her with guilt, stemming from what could have been avoided if she had killed the pillager that day.

But normally they would not have been able to act on information given to them with such a short notice. It was mere luck that Akame was close by. Which of course made them question why the the religious movement took so long to inform them about it. And why they were having the meeting in the first place.

The movement's answers to both these questions had been vague and diffuse. Blaming trouble in the information network and that the pillager wanted to have the meeting in order to discuss the exchange of some trivial information for personal use.

They have not been able to find out exactly what went down during that meeting since many of Makeias' men managed to escape the meeting along with himself. They had never found out what it was that happened during that meeting.

So Akame, and Najenda before her, had decided to keep the leadership of that organization close. In case they were trying something.

"It would seem strange if you didn't participate in the meeting itself when you did so the first time. Nothing can seem out of place." she said and returned her gaze forward. Her tone leaving no room for argument.

The man behind her sighed but didn't say anything.

They were reaching the end of the train. The last two carts were darker and not so well lit up. Used for storage. When they reached the last cart they were met with a locked door with three guards. Two of them footsoldiers and Isamu. Stationed on the large platform between the last cart and the one next to it.

"Has she done anything?" Akame shouted when they got close. Needing to keep her voice loud in order to overpower the loud winds and the sounds of the train itself.

"Nothing at all." Isamu shouted back. Despite that fact that the group stood huddled together. "She just sits there. At the end of the room. I don't even know if she has eaten anything."

"Is she uncooperative?"

Isamu shook his head at her. "Not at all. She just doesn't do anything unless we tell her. She seems determined to not cause any ruckus."

"Okay, good. You can go and get someting to eat. I will handle this for a while." The soldiers nodded and started to walk into the other cart but Isamu remained.

"Is this really a good idea?" he shouted with worry. "If we lose you right now we are done for."

"Nothing is going to happen." Akame assured. "At least not today. Go back in and warm yourself."

Isamu was still for a moment but then nodded and walked past her.

"Go and get your people prepared to leave as well." she said loudly to the leader of the Path of peace. "We need to be off this train thirty minutes after it stops. Any longer delays than that and it might start to draw attention to this train and those who own it."

The tall man nodded and turned around. When he had disappeared into the other cart, Akame turned towards the closed door.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She had to do this. What she had said about giving peace a chance had mainly been a diversion, but she still felt like she needed to do this. She needed to try again. Especially now that it posed no danger or threat to do so. At least she thought it didn't.

She brought forth the keys to the door. Unlocked it and entered.

The room she entered was large and mostly empty. A single lamp hanger from the ceiling. Swaying back and forth with the shaking of the train. Making the light in the room move around.

In the end of the long room sat Kurome. Resting on a chair in front of a table. Her teigu laying beside her on the table. They had decided to let Kurome keep Yatsufusa. Everyone knew that it posed a risk but it seemed like an even bigger one to try and take it from her. Especially since she would be locked up for most her time with them.

Kurome was looking at Akame as she entered. Her face empty. Akame met her gaze steadily as she slowly moved into the room. There was a lot of tension in the moment. The rythmical sound of the train running over it's tracks was the only thing that could be heard. Akame stopped when she was in the middle of the room.

"I came to talk a bit." Akame said. Acting more relaxed than she was. Trying to dismantle the tension a bit.

"I was wondering if you would show up." Kurome said. Her eyes moving down to the table. "I am a bit suprised that it took this long."

"You knew I would come. I would have been here a bit earlier but I have been quite busy." Akame explained.

Kurome didn't answer. She just stared at the table and her sword. Akame slowly took another step forward.

"Just to make one thing clear." she said carefully. "I did not come here to fight you, Kurome. Even if that is the only thing you are interested in doing, we should not do so now. Not today. Okay?"

Kurome was silent for a little while before she answered. "I have no intention of fighting you while I am in this situation. Even if I beat you, there will be too many of your friends coming for me to survive. I will not get into a suicide fight."

Akame nodded. "Good."

The room fell silent again after that. It was hard for Akame to come up with a way to smoothly move into the next question so after a while she decided to just ask it straight out.

"Kurome. Why did you leave the empire now and not with me earlier? What made you betray them now when you let me go alone?" she said. Asking the question she had thought about ever since she heard about Kurome's defection.

Kurome looked up at her. "It was you who left me. Not the other way around. I was still in the same place that we both had been all along. It was you who decided to leave."

"I had to." Akame stated lowly.

"I don't see how your situation changed that much." Kurome said coldly. "You are still just taking orders. Still just killing whoever your superior points you towards. You are still doing the same thing you did together with us. You just changed your banner and started saying that it was justice."

"Not anymore." Akame said. A small tone of sadness hiding in her voice. "I can't rely on a superior anymore."

"Good for you then." Kurome said indiffrently. "You still chose leave me and all our friends behind."

"And how many of those friends are still alive, Kurome. The ways of the empire has destroyed them all."

"If your rebellion didn't exist then most of them would still be alive. Besides, they are not all gone. Not completely." she added and put a hand on the hilt of her teigu.

Akame was well aware of what Kurome meant with that insinuation but that was not an issues that she could try to tackle now. She had to focus on one thing at the time. "The rebellion didn't just grow out of nothing. It wouldn't have gotten the kind of response it did if it had. It is the same ways of the empire that destroyed your friends that has created the entire rebellion."

Kurome was quick to change tactic. "As if your situation is any diffrent. How many of your new allies still remain, Akame. I have heard that most of those have died as well."

"Yeah." Akame admitted silently. She remained quiet for some seconds. "But maybe I will have some new allies soon." she said and smiled faintly at Kurome.

That caught Kurome a bit off guard. She grew hesitant and her eyes moved down to the table again. Akame dared to take another step forward. Now being rather close to the table.

"Probably not." Kurome said distanly. Acting colder than she felt. "Makeias will never agree to your terms. He would not be able to sustain his forces without raiding the people. He will never get the kind of support from the common folk required to keep his army together without all the looting. General Gallus have seen to that with his hate campaign."

Akame decided to go back to her original question. "Why did you leave the empire to serve the pillager, Kurome?"

"I don't serve the pillager." Kurome said.

"Okay. Wave then. Why did you chose to betray the empire with him. After staying with it through all of this."

Kurome was silent for a long time after that. Staring down into the table. "A lot of things happened."

"But you are working for the pillager's organization now, Kurome. A faction that practises the same cruel actions as the empire. Your choice just doesn't make any sense."

"Maybe it wasn't a choice." Kurome said. Almost too silently to be heard.

Akame thought about the situation for some moments but then decided to not dig deeper into it. She already had her plan of action clear from this point in the conversation.

"But you don't serve the empire anymore." Akame stated. "And you will never be able to again."

Kurome didn't answer.

"But you don't not follow Makeias. It is Wave that you go with. Right?" she said. Trying to sound as friendly as possible.

Kurome looked up at her from her teigu. Akame took that as confirmation.

"Then please just keep doing that."

Kurome's eyebrows rose slightly. Not understanding where this was going.

"Wave is not Makeias, Kurome." Akame continued. "I have had some contact with him. He seems reasonable enough."

Kurome nodded. Both just looked at each other for a while.

"Could you do me a favour?" Akame asked after a little while.

Kurome looked as Akame reached inside her coat and brought forth a letter. She reached out with it towards Kurome.

"Can you give this to Wave the next time you meet him?" she asked.

"What does it say?" Kurome said and slowly reached up and took the letter.

"It isn't sealed." Akame said and turned around. Starting to leave the room. "But give that to Wave. And then maybe I will have some new allies soon."

"Makieas will never join you." Kurome repeated slowly.

"No. I don't think so either. But you don't serve Makeias, do you?" Akame said.

She turned around and looked at Kurome. Her sister had opened the letter and was reading through it intently. Akame smiled, turned around and left the room.

_Maybe. Just maybe,_ she thought as she walked out into the rain. Allowing a small ray of light into her otherwise dark mind.

* * *

Esdese rubbed her chin against the side of Tatsumi's head with content. A satisfied smile on her face. Enjoying the moment he had given her. It wasn't quite the same as it had been before but it was somewhat close. He wasn't squirming away from her or just limp in her arms. He sat there and took her cuddling. And even if he didn't return her movements, it was still the best moment Esdese had had for days, if not weeks.

She was sitting on the floor, with her back against the wall in Tatsumi's cell. Tatsumi sitting in her arms. His back resting against her chest and stomach. His legs stretched out in front of him, between her own. His arms hanging loosely at his sides. Not moving much at all. But he was leaning into her with his back. Keeping his promise.

His face was completely empty. His head only moving about when Esdese snuggled her own head against his from behind.

His empty eyes moved to the other side of the room.

The door in the bars was wide open. Esdese being in too much of a haste to get her prize to close it behind her. Not that it mattered. He could never race her to it without Incursio.

He looked out over the other side of the room. Juro was gathering some diffrent tools that were strewn out across the floor. Still naked and on all fours. Blood was still dripping down from the table. The now dead girl laying on top of it. Though it was now almost impossible to tell that she had been a girl before the torture session. That was how badly maimed the body was. The only part of her that was almost completely untouched was her mouth. Esdese ending it as soon as she thought the girl had told her everything she knew.

That was what Tatsumi had managd to bargain for. That was the only small rescue he had managed to give the girl. That Esdese didn't play around with her after she considered herself done with her duty.

But the girl hadn't talked. She hadn't ratted anyone out. She had kept to her story until the end.

Tatsumi had only seen one or two people being able to stand steady in the face of Esdese's competence in this field. But she had. Even if Esdese didn't know it. She had been incredible strong and brave. And she hadn't given out any of her friends to the ice queen.

Esdese hand't really had much patience with her, admittedly. She finished the girl off as soon as it was a reasonable guess that the girl had told her everything. Ending it as soon as it was indisputable that she had done her duty. She had been in a hurry to get done in order to claim her part of the bargain. Which she was now doing.

Tatsumi had agreed that he would let her cuddle with him a little bit every day. Without any unejoyable resistance or acting like a dead corpse in her hands. Letting her do her thing, even if he didn't participate himself.

Arguing with Esdese about letting her cuddle him in exchange for ending another person's life a bit earlier had been another grim reminder of just how crazy she was.

He sat there for a little while longer while Esdese enthustiastically pressed against him from behind. Sometimes increasing the pressure and sometimes loosening it. Sometimes rubbing against the back of his head so frantically that it created friction heat. Sometimes just sitting still with her nose in his hair. Smelling him.

But after a little while, he started to resist. When her grip got a bit looser he started to struggle. Not strongly or angrily. Just slowly moving his body away. Demonstrating that he no longer wanted a part of it. As soon as he started to, Esdese's grip hardened by insinct. Not letting him get away.

"That was way too short." she complained. "At least another five minutes."

"No." Tatsumi said meekly. Trying to move away from her. When she didn't let him, she used his usual tactic. He went completely limp in her grip. Like a rag doll. To Esdese's disappointment.

It wasn't as enjoyable to her when he just acted like a corpse in her grasp. She didn't feel like he was actually there with her. She considered still going on for a while. It was still better than nothing. But she decided against it. Their deal had been for one of these sessions every day. She didn't want to make Tatsumi back out of that deal.

She grabbed his hair and turned his head around. Giving him a strong kiss. Pushing her lips against his. But his head simply moved back and his lips didn't respond to her. His mouth slightly open. She moved her head back a bit and gave him a small and disappointed lick over his lips.

After that she sighed and loosend her grip. Letting him slowly crawl out of her lap. When he had done so she rose up. She drove her finger through his hair as she walked past him. He himself crawling towards the other side if the cell.

She walked out of it and closed the door behind her. Carefully locking it up.

Tatsumi sat up in the middle of the cell. Looking at her as she put the keys to his cell down into one of the breast pockets of her uniform. She gave him a warm grin after that and started to walk towards the door. Tatsumi could easily see that getting to relive a little bit of what she was trying to get back had raised her mood quite a bit. It seemed like she considered their interactions today as a big success.

"Esdese."

"Hmm?"

He looked at Juro. "The other half of the deal."

Esdese's eyebrows rose. "Ahh right. Sorry Tatsumi. Getting to touch you so much made me forget." Esdese genuinly apologized.

She turned around to Juro. She gestured to the old man to come over to her. Which he immediately did. Crawling on all fours. Despite the fact that he had heard when Esdese and Tatsumi agreed on the deal. Tatsumi wondered if hadn't understood their agreement or if he didn't care. He didn't know which alternative that was the worst one.

He rubbed his face in his hands.

"That is good, Juro." he heard Esdese's voice call out. A slight bit sweeter than usual. "Obedience is what's most important for a pet."

Then Tatsumi heard the loud smacking sound of something hard hitting something soft. Followed by the incessant and intensive yelping of Juro. He sounded more like a dog than a man. High pitched and without words. It went on for three seconds. Then it was interrupted by a quick snapping sound. As if someone had broken a twig. After that, the room went quiet. A second later Tatsumi heard the light thump as Juro's body hit the floor.

He lifted his face from his hands.

Esdese was throwing one of her tools over to the torture bench. Juro lay dead before her on the floor. Face turned away from Tatsumi.

She turned her head towards Tatsumi again. "This has been quite enjoyable, Tatsumi. But now I need to get on with some of my other duties." she said with a warm smile. "The attendants will be here to clean up this room in an hour or so."

Tatsumi's gaze left Juro's body and went up to her eyes.

"I will cook dinner for you tomorrow." she continued as she started to walk towards the door. "I hope that you will look forward to it."

He just looked at her in silence. His expression too empty to even be considered a glare.

Esdese turned towards him in the doorway. "See you tomorrow, my sweet little Tatsumi."

With those words she walked out of the room. Closing the door behind her. The echoing of her steps fading until the room was completely silent.

Tatsumi remained sitting there for a long while. Then he slowly rose up. He walked over to the bars. Grabbing them as he looked at Juro. He still couldn't see his face. There was a pool of blood slowly spreading out from the old man's neck.

The fate of the man stung Tatsumi greatly. Almost more than the girl whose name he never learned. She had at least willingly engaged in all her treachery. Totally aware of the full extent of what it meant. Juro had not. He had simply thought that he was doing Tatsumi some insignificant, albeit illegal, favours. He had simply been trying to repay his debt to Tatsumi. Expressing his gratefulness for saving his children in any way he could.

The children that Esdese had killed. And now Tatsumi had made her kill him. Believing that it was a mercy.

"I'm sorry." Tatsumi whispered silently. He looked over at the thoroughly mutilated corpse on the table. "I'm sorry."

He slowly fell down on his knees. His arms clasping the bars above his head as he struggled with the tears.

"I'm so sorry."

* * *

**Author's note:**

**Not much of a silver lining in Tatsumi's camp in this chapter. But things might get better. A lot of things are still to happen in this arc.**

**A couple of very minor characters appeared and ended here. I understand that it might be annoying to some that I introduce these characters over and over every time they appear. But I think it is necessary. Juro's last appearance was in chapter 4. And since you people have to endure my release pace, the last time many of you read about him might be almost eight months ago. So it seems unreasonable to demand that you should have a clue of who he is. That is why I re-introduce the minor characters when they appear.**

**Ran into some problems irl that delayed this chapter more than expected. A lot more actually. And whenever this story takes too long with it's releases, people always start to ask when the next update is coming or telling me to update soon. And you know what? I love it! Every little inquire is more proof that this story has engaged people. It's very rewarding.**

**However, this chapter was delayed for a bit too long. Even for me. The next one shouldn't take that long. I've got some time on my hands now so the next one will probably actually only take 7 days. Hopefully.**

**Thanks a lot for reading. All your comments and engagement in this story is what keeps it moving.**

**Take care of each other.**


	32. As red turns to gray

**I think I will have to find a new way to set up deadlines. (Next chapter will be released 30/11)**

* * *

**As red turns to gray.**

"And you have dealt with all those that we knew had been in contact with that network?" The prime minister asked as he shifted through the folder he was holding.

"I have seen to most of it personally. That entire circle has been thoroughly rooted out." Esdese answered calmly. Holding a single paper in her hand. Glancing through all the names written on it. All the people that had been taken to the torture chambers for "questioning" about the new information network that had been revealed along with Tatsumi's betrayal. It was a long list.

They were sitting alone in one of the big inner gardens that the palace had. They sat on two chairs with a small table between them. The chairs both turned towards the garden on their side. Overlooking the beautiful fauna and vegetation. Not that the two of them had time to admire it. They were both deep into their respective workloads. Both of them reading through papers and folders.

"And those surrounding it?" the prime minister said as he took a couple of papers out of his folder and put them on the table. Discarding them for later.

"Everyone with the slightest connection to this have been taken down to the torture chambers. All relatives and friends." Esdese said. Her eyes not leaving her paper.

"Did any of them leave?"

"One or two." Esdese answered indiffrently.

"Well.. then that should be the last of them." The prime minister said as he leaned back into his chair. "We should have rooted out this entire annoyance with this."

Esdese nodded as she kept reading through the names. After a little silence she spoke.

"Yet we are not closer to finding the one who killed the emperor."

Ironically enough, Esdese seemed to be more bothered by this than the prime minister. His main focus had always been to stay in control. Losing his most convenient puppet was bothersome but he had managed to find other ways. Even if the situation still was far from optimal for him. But to him it was just a momentary setback. Nothing to be bothered by now that the situation was stable again.

It was Esdese who had taken the death of the emperor more personal. Not that she had really cared that much about the kid when he lived but she had promised him her protection. Along with the rest of the empire. She knew that she probably couldn't have done anything better but she still felt like she had failed her duties in some ways. She didn't mourn him but it was an annoyance. So she had been a bit more adamant about finding the assassin than the prime minister.

"Who knows, he might actually be dead already." The prime minister said and put some other papers down on the table. "He might have been one of those that didn't leave the torture chambers."

"I doubt it." Esdese said emptily.

The prime minister looked up from his papers for the first time in a long while. He looked at her. She had not been in the best of moods ever since Tatsumi's true colors had been exposed. But she had done her duties. As he had thought she would. So now everything was back to how it had been before for the minister. The threat of Tatsumi eradicated and Esdese's loyalty ensured.

"Does his death bother you that much?" he asked in a friendly tone. "How noble."

"A lot of things bother me right now." Esdese answered coldly. "As I think you know."

"Well, I think we both know who the main suspect should have been all along." the prime minister said gently. His mild demeanor in stark contrast to Esdese's coldness.

"I still absolve him of that." she stated blankly.

"Even after all that has happened?"

Esdese nodded without looking up from the paper. "It is not a matter of trusting him. I held Tatsumi throughout that entire night. He is not the culprit."

"Well, at least not of that." the minister said slowly. "You know, I would have prefered it if you killed him. That would probably be the best alternative for all of us."

Esdese remained silent. The prime minister studied her for some moments. "You know, I can help you with that if it is giving you problems. He doesn't have Incursio anymore. I can send someone. All you have to do is leave the keys in one of your rooms."

He immediately realized that he had stepped over the line. Suddenly the atmosphere in the small garden turned tense and menacing. Esdese's eyes slowly moved up from the paper and met his own. For the first time during that meeting.

"I would advice you to never say that to me again." she said. Her calm voice brimming with the underlying threat.

The prime minister met her powerful gaze. He knew that he had to take this seriously. He needed her on his side in everything. He couldn't afford there to be a rift between them. That could mean his end. He put down the folder he had been reading on the table and leaned forward slightly. A concerned look on his face.

"I am only trying to help you, Esdese."

Her eyes pierced him in silence. Esdese's expression calm and unfriendly. The minister could feel the hostility she was emanating towards him. He could feel how her instincts were sizing him up. Trying to determine his true motive.

"Esdese, you are the great general and we have now declared martial law. You are in complete control of the empire. We both know that I am still the one who rules this nation through the political level. However, even if our working relation haven't changed, I am righ now, for all intents and purposes, your subordinate."

"You sure don't act like one." Esdese said. Her eyes not leaving his. Not letting him get away.

"All I want, is for this to work out for us. The current empire needs the both of us." the big man went on in his friendly and fatherly voice.

Esdese slowly nodded. Recognizing the truth in his words. "Tatsumi is written off the records. But he still belongs to me. He himself even admits to that."

"That didn't stop him from stabbing you in the back though."

"That simply means that I have failed to control him properly. A mistake that I will not repeat. But he still agrees that he belongs to me and I keep my promises to my own. Tatsumi will have my protection."

The prime minister sighed and closed his eyes. Surrendering the duel of wills. "Well, I won't say it to you again but you know my thoughts on it. Please keep them in your head."

Esdese glared at him for a coulpe more moments but then returned her eyes down to the paper in her hand. What she left out from the conversation was that Tatsumi still denied her in so many matters at the moment. While he had never outright stated that he wasn't her partner anymore, their relationship was a lot more uncertain than it had been for years. He still belonged to her though. Mainly because she wouldn't allow him not to.

And that was why she would keep her promises to him. She would keep protecting him. Because not doing so would be the same as admitting that she had completely lost him.

She sighed. Sounding partly irritated and partly tired. "Anyway, how much longer will we keep martial law in effect? I am growing tired of all these charades and all the administrative work I now have to do. I am so bored of all these meetings that I need to attend but not participate in. Just because I am the head of state." she said. Returning to business.

"Patience, my friend. If you weren't the head of state then there would not really be anyone to take your place. And the search for someone to replace you in that position as the next ruler of the empire is taking it's time." the minister assured.

"Don't grow complacent, minister. I know that this is convenient for you. Now that you have complete control without having to bother with all the political charades. But I will not be doing this forever. This is not my element." Esdese said matter-of-factly. Sounding neither friendly or unfriendly.

"I know, Esdese. I know. But believe me, this search to find someone "fitting" to be the next ruler has not been easy." he said truthfully. The problem was that he himself had eradicated all the distant relatives emperor Makoto had had. Now it was hard to find anyone with the blood of that family. And among the few that remained it was even harder to find one that would work completely under his control.

"Besides, we have not been able to focus much on that issue since we have been occupied with rooting out the problem that Tatsumi created." He looked over at her with an apologetic smile. "I know that you dislike it but please keep this up for a little while longer. I am working as fast as I can."

Esdese did not raise her gaze to meet his. Even if she did register it. "I will keep doing this until you find your next puppet. That was our deal. But that deal also included that you would find your replacement as soon as possible. As long as you keep searching to the best of your abilities, I will keep doing my part."

"I am doing my best, great general. You can count on that."

Esdese did not answer. Simply reading on. The silence went on for a little while before she spoke again. "Have you been able to locate Makeias' spy yet?"

"No, not yet. I am actually starting to doubt that this mole even exists." he admitted.

"Do you have any other explanation for the superb evasiveness of Makeias' forces?"

"No. I do not." the prime minister admitted. "But we have thoroughly checked all of our information pipelines. There is no leak. No message missing and no seals opened outside of the intended circle."

"Then the spy is one of those inside said circle." Esdese stated plainly.

"A troubling thought." the prime minister commented. "That would mean that someone in a position almost as high as ours is secretly working for Makeias. I find that hard to believe. They have nothing to gain from the fall of our empire. If it falls, so do they."

"Do you have any other explanation? I would be happy to hear it. The military is just running around in circles right now. Trying and failing to find Makeias' forces."

"I wished I did." he admitted yet again. "I am going to try laying out the bait we talked about before with the false message. Hopefully that will reveal them to us."

Esdese simply nodded.

"But until then, it is important that we keep this between the two of us." the minister went on."If this alleged spy finds out that we are searching for him, then he might go into hiding."

"Of course." Esdese said and rose up from the table. "Now I have to go and supervise another meeting concerning the economical plans and budgeting of the army." she sighed.

The prime minister looked up at her and nodded. "Keep up the good work. I will see to it that you are relieved soon enough."

Esdese nodded to him once again and left the garden. Giving her paper to an attendant that was waiting in the hall leading to the isolated garden. The paper was mainly just a list and statistics. No valuable information. The attendant was a gray eyed little boy carrying a berret over his head. He took the paper and walked away. He himself not allowed anywhere near the room while the meeting was taking place.

* * *

Liza followed Makieas closely as he walked through the camp. Keeping her instincts open for any threats in their environment. Makeias himself was reading through a small book he was holding in one of his hands. His other hand in his pocket. His destroyed coat flapping in the wind. Liza was wearing her usual rugged and torn clothes but was currently not wearing the big military helmet she usually had on.

The entire camp around them was moving. Everything was being taken down and disassembled. Everyone packing their things and getting ready to move. Horses were already pulling fully packed carts out of the camp. To the east of the them, the long masts of the ships that lay at anchor by the camp could be seen. People climbing up on them as the fleet got ready to move. Liza could feel the smell of wet wood and fish even from where they were, even if she could barely see the masts over the top of the tents and structures around them. On account of her still being rather short.

Everywhere around them there was commotion. People shouting orders and rushing to get everything done in time. Extinguishing the fires and removing as much evidence of their presence as possible. The entire force moving around with haste.

The pillager had finally given the order.

Liza was well aware of the reason for it. Makeias had recieved the letter just some hours ago. She hadn't read it herself but it seemed like night raid had given him the coordinates for their meeting. And it seemed like they were going to move out towards it immediately.

Liza walked behind him through the camp for some minutes before he reached his destination. A mid-sized tent. Placed near the beach. He walked in through the open flap that acted as a door.

"Ahh general. Didn't expect you to come by." Wave greeted. Throwing his cloak over his shoulder as they walked into the tent. It was a rather large living tent. Designed for one person. Wave was clearly getting ready to move out as well. There were a couple of attendants and soldiers in the tent. Packing things and carrying them out as Wave was putting on his own equipment.

"Good morning, admiral." Makeias said and looked up at Wave from his book. "I hope you have slept well. Is everything going according to schedule?"

"Yup." Wave said with a smile and strapped his sword over his back. "I mean, we have been waiting to move out for so long now that it would almost seem comical if we couldn't keep up once the signal came."

"Agreed."

"Hey, by the way, general. Did they write anything about Kurome in the letter you recieved?" Wave said. He tried to act nonchalant but both Liza and Makeias saw through his facade.

"No. They did not." Makeias answered calmly. "But don't let that bother you. It is not like we have reported anything about Leone to them during this time. That they didn't mention her in the letter doesn't really mean anything."

Wave nodded. Allowing his senior to reassure him. "I will move to the ships in five minutes and give them their orders and coordinates. After that I will be ready to move out towards the meeting together with you and the others."

"Good. Most of the camp will move closer to the capital. We will seperate with a smaller force and move towards night raid's position. Bringing a larger forces would only cause more tension."

"Understood." Wave said with a nod. "Just like last time."

"One more thing, Wave." Makeias said. "When we travel and during the meeting itself, I want you to keep an close eye on Leone. Stay in her vicinity, if possible."

Wave raised his eyebrows slightly. "Huh... Well, of course, general. But why? Do you think that she will try anything? She has been mostly cooperative during her weeks with us."

"I have no specific suspicions that she will. But if there is going to be a time when she will act, it will be when we are moving or during the meeting itself. She is far too strong to be left to my normal soldiers. My personal guards would probably be a problem for her but I doubt that they would manage to take her down. Tom-Tom will be occupied in adminstrative duty, along with myself. And I certainly don't trust this one with it." he said and pointed a thumb over at Liza.

The little girl ignored his remark. Looking at the attendants.

Wave nodded again. "Okay then. I will stay close to her during what little time she will remain with us."

"Excellent. We don't want anything to happen that could put Kurome's life in danger." Makeias said and turned around. "I will meet you later, admiral." Wave saluted him as he left the tent. Liza following just behind him.

They walked through the camp for a little while longer.

"That boy is stupid." Liza said after some time had passed.

"I think it would be more correct to say that he is a little bit too trusting." Makeias said without looking back at her.

"And that is stupid." Liza said.

"That is one way to see it. He could also be well aware of the risks but still prefer to make his life a bit harder instead of changing his outlook on it."

"Doesn't he have things he loves?"

"I am pretty sure that he does." Makeias said with a canny smile.

"Then he is being stupid. He is only inviting death." Liza concluded. With all the certainty of youth.

"Maybe." Makeias said. "He is a bit special, I will admit that. But I do think his heart is in the right place. You do too, don't you?" Makeias said and cast her a glance over his shoulder. A friendly smile on his face.

Liza pouted and looked to the side. "Doesn't make it less stupid."

They walked on for two minutes before Tom-Tom met them.

"Hail, mighty plaguelord." he greeted as he came walking up to them. Some of his tribesmen following him. Towering over everyone else in the camp.

"Good day, Tom-Tom." Makeias said with a smile. Not stopping his walk. Tom-Tom falling in beside him. "How are we doing?"

"We have found the meeting spot, it is just as our informant told us. They have disguised it to look like an old abandoned fortress. But we are certain that it is one of their bases. Disguised to look like something else."

"So the informant was telling the truth all along." Makeias sighed. "Then it is just as we expected."

Tom-Tom nodded. A sour look on his face. "Should we still go along with the plan."

Makeias was silent for some time before he answered. "Yeah. It will be up to us to finish the revolutionary army. I had hoped that we could leave that to the empire but we cannot leave Kurome behind. If we do we will lose Wave."

"Then we will have to turn this trap upon themselves. Should we assume that all the other information the informant gave us is true?"

"We have to at this point. Organize our forces to home in on all the hideouts and bases of the revolutionary army. All the positions the informant gave us. I want their attack to be coordinated with ours."

Tom-Tom nodded. "Should we try to bring more warriors with us to the meeting then?"

"No. This will be a hard fight either way, but we cannot give them any clues of what is going on."

"So just the same people as before?"

"Yeah. You can add a few extra warriors but not any amount that would draw attention."

"Well, then." Tom-Tom said. "I will go and send the orders. I will meet you at the caravan."

Makeias nodded and Tom-Tom started to walk away. Followed by his men. As he passed by Liza, one of his giant hands moved down and ruffled up the girl's blonde hair. And for once, Liza's response was not aggressive. Actually pressing back a bit with her head. Tom-Tom being one of the few persons in the world that she had a hard time remaining angry at.

Makeias noted their interaction without looking at them. It was a good sign.

Liza's behaviour had gotten a lot calmer after she became his bodyguard. A large part of that could probably be attributed to the fact that she had not had an active combat role ever since then. Since Makeias had managed to stay out of trouble. He had also gotten a chance to talk to her every day. At first she hadn't responded at all. But after a while she had started giving him short and angry answers. And now they were able to have somewhat normal conversations. Sometimes even initiated by her.

Makeias had started to feel a small hope that maybe, just maybe, this could be salvaged.

"Let's get something to eat." he said and Liza nodded to him behind his back.

Twenty minutes later, they were both sitting at the end of a long table in a abandoned food tent. No one in it except the two of them and a few people that were carrying things out of it. The tent itself in the process of being deconstructed.

Makeias was sitting heavily hunched over the table. The long wooden bench and table not designed for his very tall form. While Liza's feet were dangling in the air when she sat on the bench on the opposite side of him. They were both eating two identical sandwiches. Provided by the military kitchen. Makeias' sandwich looked very small in his long and slender hands while Liza's looked way too big for her.

Makeias tired eyes were focused on Liza. Studying the little child as she ate.

She had gotten her mother's beautiful brown eyes. Her cheekbones as well. But her nose and wild blonde her was from her father. He sighed. God, how he missed those two.

Liza were focused on looking at the soldiers and attendants that entered and left the tent. Always at edge when it came to new people. Her unfriendly gaze following them as she chewed on her sandwich. They sat like that for a little while.

"Liza." Makeias finally said. Making the small girl's eyes turn to him. "It might be unavoidable that this comes down to violence pretty soon."

"So?" Liza said.

"This will be some dangerous fellows that we're up against. Really dangerous."

"You better not be going where I think you're going with this." Liza threatened. The way she said it once again showing that she was mature beyond her years.

Yet Makeias trudged on. "Liza, maybe you should sit this one out."

"Fuck off." Liza said tiredly. Closing her eyes as she took another bite of her sandwich.

"I am serious about this. This time the enemy is a capable one. If you come with me to this meeting, your life will be in jeopardy. For real this time. You not surviving this is not an unlikely possibility."

"Just like any other day at the job." she said. Unpertubed.

"This is not like evey other.."

"Ohh come on." Liza interrupted him. "Do you honestly believe that you can talk me out of abandoning my post? If you don't want me with you then order me not to go. Don't try to make me back out on my own, so that you don't have to take any responsibility."

"No, Liza. I am genuinely concerned here. Is it your wish to follow me?"

"If you die, I won't have any way to get Jack back."

Makeias gave her a sad smile. "Well, I am happy that you don't see me as a threat anymore."

Liza looked at him for some moments before she spoke. "You can put me through whatever hell you have planned. I am strong. I will manage. But Jack is weak. I will never forgive you for making him a part of this."

"I didn't involve him in this. He did so himself."

"And you let him. You could easily have stopped him but you didn't. Despite that you promised me that you would help me protect him if I worked for you. So long ago."

Makeias looked at her for some moments, then he bowed down a little bit over the table. Closer to her.

"Ok, here is the truth then, Liza."

Liza stopped herself in the middle of a bite. Her teeth in her sandwich.

"I need that teigu to work and he is the only one we could find that can use it." he explained in a low voice. "If we don't have that teigu working, our entire survival becomes so much more unlikely. And if I am dead then I can't keep any promises that I have made."

Liza moved her mouth away from the bread. The marks of her teeth left in the bread. Understanding that they were having a truthful moment right now. "Did you brainwash him, Makeias?"

Makeias could hear the fear hidden in her tone. He slowly nodded but he still smiled. "He made it through, Liza. He was scarred and I would be lying if I said that he wasn't changed by it. But he made it through. He is still the same person."

Even though she tried to hide it, Makeias could see how her eyes shone up at that. "Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"Because I didn't think that I could trust you. I wanted evey hook on you that I could get. But since you seem to be determined to go beside me into battle, I will give you this courtesy."

It was easy to see that this news had shaken Liza quite a bit. Her normal frown was gone. Replaced by a dumbfounded and questioning expression. She had been pretty sure that her brother was alive but she had been convinced that there wouldn't be much of his personality left after the treatment. "Is he well? Where is he?"

"I got a message from him yesterday. He is safe and well. Everything is going as planned." Makeias reassured her.

"You have to let me see him again." she exclaimed. Pushing herself up with her hands on the table. Standing on the bench.

Makeias leaned back with a smile. He reached out with one of his large and slender hands. "Stay with me Liza. Trust me in the coming battle. Then all of us will get through this together. And you will meet your brother again."

Liza didn't even hesitate. She had given up on anything like this. She was so desperate for a little bit of hope. She reached out and grabbed Makeias' hand. She was a bit suprised by how cold it was but she determinately took a grip around it with her small hand. The large hand gently closing around both her hand and her wrist. Due to the diffrence in size.

She stared at Makeias without anger or resentment. "Please let me meet him again, Makeias." she said. Her expression filled with pain. "I miss him so much."

Makeias other hand came up and placed itself over their hands. He smiled sadly at her. "I promise you, Liza. I will make this work."

It was only half a lie.

* * *

Tatsumi only woke up when Esdese actually entered his room. He had not heard when she got up and started walking around in her quarters. Not because she had been sneaking around but simply because of the fact that he had been sleeping rather deeply. However, he woke up when he heard the door to his room open.

It had to be in the middle of the night, Tatsumi reasoned. Not that he had any windows in his room. It was weeks since he last saw any sunlight. But he still kept a rather regular circadian rythm. Going to sleep at almost the same time every day.

He was lying with his back turned towards the door when he heard it open and her footsteps entered. He knew that it was her immediately. Esdese's precense was strong and imposing by default and she rarely tried to hide it. He could tell that it is was her just by her walking through the door. He could tell that she was barefoot from the sound of her steps.

He heard how she stopped in front of the bars. Probably looking at him.

He knew that there could be two reasons as to why she was there. She might have come by just to look at him. Driven by some strange paranoia. Just wanting to check on him. She often did this when she returned to her home after her longer days. When he himself was often already lying bed. Sometimes she stayed for a rather long time.

Just the other day she had come by just as he was trying to go to sleep. Walking into the barely lit room and then remaining on the other side of the bars. Looking at him. He had been awake that time and turned around in the bed. Meeting her intense gaze. Yet he had a hard time to read anything from it except her obsessiveness with him. They had stayed silent like that. Just looking at each other until Tatsumi finally fell asleep. Then Esdese had turned around and left.

The other reason why she might have come by was because she wanted to have him beside her when she slept. This was not all that rare either. Tatsumi had no idea what it was that made her come over some nights and not some others. He could not discern any patterns in it. Usually those nights just resulted in her holding him against her while she slept. Applying too much pressure for him to be able to escape. Tatsumi suspected that neither one of them got any good rest during those nights. He himself having a hard time to get comfortable when she was so rough with him and he guessed that she never really relaxed fully either since she was constantly holding him back.

Yet it was she who had to go and work all day long while he just remained in his cell. But she still came over and repeated the process every now and then. So he guessed that she still found it worth it on some level.

Though he had no way to tell what kind of situation this particular night was. So he remained still. Pretending to still be asleep.

Esdese was not really sure about what she wanted herself. She always knew her intentions when she planned her meetings with him. But somehow his presence made her feelings move in diffrent ways than she had planned. Making her act in ways she had not forseen.

She was standing on the other side of the bars. Naked with the exception of an unbuttoned shirt. Holding a glass of water in one hand. Drinking from it as she watched him. A slightly irritated expression on her face.

She had intended to just get up for some water. Then as she walked about, she had decided to go in and have a look at him. She had been hard at work the entire day and had not been able to meet him at all. Returning to her apartments long after he had gone to sleep.

She had just intended to watch him for a little while but now she didn't want to leave. Everything outside of the room felt so empty and lonely.

A part of her hated this. The fact that he managed to sway her so without even doing anything. That he managed to make her decisions so much harder for her. A part of her felt that her heart made her weak. Wishing that she could just cut it out and be done with it. But that side of her was completely overwhelmed by her feelings and instincts. She had always let her instincts guide her through life. And they were very clear about what they wanted here. Even if she herself had to combat them in this scenario.

She stood there and watched for some minutes before she decided that she would spend the night with him.

Tatsumi heard how she walked up to the door in the bars and stopped in front of it.

She let out an irritated "Tchh."

She didn't have the keys on her. She felt an urge to just smash the bars in. She was so tired of this whole situation. She emptied her glass of water and then walked out of the room.

She returned some moments later. Without the glass but with the key. She unlocked the door and left the key in it as she walked into Tatsumi's cell.

She walked over to his bed, lifted the covers and crawled into it behind him.

It was not a particularly large bed. And Esdese was rather tall. At least in comparison to Tatsumi. So there was little room left in the bed when she had entered it. Yet she didn't touch him. She kept moving until she was just an inch or two behind him. He could almost feel the heat from her body on his back.

"Awake?" she asked in a whisper. Her breath tickling his neck.

"I am now." he answered coldly.

Immediately her hand touched his back and started to slither around his body. As soon as she got a grip around him, she started to pull his body backwards. Into her own. Pleased to feel that he was wearing nothing but briefs.

Tatsumi felt how her breasts pressed against his back and how her lips landed just where his neck and shoulder connected. Making his head press down against hers by reflex.

"Get off." he complained and started to move away from her.

"Nope." she said and put some strength in her grip.

Yet Tatsumi continued to struggle against her. Refusing her touch whenever he could. After some moments Esdese grew annoyed.

"Stop that." she ordered. "I haven't had my session yet today, remember?"

Tatsumi stopped at that. He had actually forgotten that she hadn't had todays part of their deal yet. He slowly stopped his struggling and relaxed back into her. Nestling into her embrace and then remaining still.

"There you go." Esdese said and rubbed her entire body against him. "Good boy."

Tatsumi stayed still as she snuggled against him from behind.

He hated how much he enjoyed her touch. His later days had reminded him of just how horrible of a creature she was. How much she enjoyed what most people loathed and how much pleasure she drew from inflicting pain and despair on her fellow humans.

She had no right to feel so nice. He hated how sweet and warm her embrace was. He hated how smooth and nice her skin was against his back. How soft her caresses was. He hated how he loved the feeling of her lips on his neck and how much he enjoyed how her fingers played with his hair. She was handling him so lovingly and gently. Giving only the slightest of signals that she wanted more from him.

All of it made him detest himself. Because he loved it. He never wanted her to stop. His instincts and body was drawn to her and what she was giving him so strongly. He hated himself for loving it. For loving her.

The thought hit him hard once again. He was well aware of it but the reminder always hurt a lot. Especially now.

He loved her. He loved her a lot. She was the propagator of all the suffering in the nation. She was one of the greatest bringer of destruction and sorrow known to man. And he loved her.

She had destroyed so many of his friends and the things he loved. And he loved her.

She was one of the biggest reason for all his suffering. And he loved her.

He often struggled to keep this fact the furthest back in his mind. Always trying to avoid meeting it.

But now it was impossible to not face the simple fact. It was one of the reasons why he had been trying to avoid physical contact with her during his time in captivity. Not only because he knew that it was one of the few things that he could use to barter with her. But also because, when they were close like this it was so much harder for him to deny her. He so easily lost all perspective when they were like this.

So after some time had passed, he started to struggle again. Trying to get away from her grasp.

Esdese's grip immediately tightened. Disappointed that it was already over. Everytime she did this she hoped that it wouldn't end. That he would give in and surrender to her.

It had always been her plan to get some kind of deal like this. That had been the sole reason as to why she brought some people that she knew that he was acquainted with and tortured them before him. Because she knew that he would try and negotiate for their salvation. And he had. That was how she had gotten these daily sessions. But that had also been her plan from the beginning. She knew that parts of him still loved her. She was certain that not every aspect of his being wanted to avoid her. Her instincts told her so. She had assumed that if she could only get him to agree to some skinship then his body would betray him. Sooner or later he would give in to her.

And it was working. Somewhat.

At first he had been stale as a stick when she touched him. Clearly trying his best to not participate in any way. But that had started to fade over time. Now he eased into her embraces. Clearly finding some rest in her arms. Things were proceeding just as she had hoped. But it was going excruciatingly slow. She had hoped that she would have him back already by now. But he still resisted her.

She pulled him back against her. "Don't struggle. I know that you want this." she said. Her tone partly irritated.

"I don't." he protested and continued to fight against her grip.

"You do. I can tell." she said. He was fighting against her a bit more strongly than normal.

"You're wrong." he said a bit more loudly. The fact that he, to some extent, actually had enjoyed it made him fight against her more.

But his resistance was making Esdese react diffently than he had hoped.

Normally he would have just have stopped all his movements by now. Becoming a rag doll in her grip. It was the smarter form of resistance and he knew it. But right now he couldn't just remain like that. His reminder that he actually loved her forced him to resist more violently. Against his better judgement. Because he knew that Esdese enjoyed it much more when his resistance took on a more physical form.

She looked at his back for some moments. Then a smile slowly spread across her face.

She prefered this infintely to the limp absence of his participation. Now he was playing ball with her. Now he was putting up a fight. And there were few things that she enjoyed more than a good fight.

Their cuddling very quickly turned into wrestling. Esdese forcing him closer while he tried to get away. She herself not really putting too much of her strength into her actions. Letting him have his fight. Even if they both knew who would win in a physical competition. To her the moment was playful and a little bit gratifying. She knew that he didn't find it as enjoyable but she still went on. It had been so long since she had this kind of intimacy with him.

"Stop it." Tatsumi complained a bit louder. Raising his voice.

"Stop me." she challenged back. Egging him on. Making him forget himself and struggle more.

He had managed to roll around so that he was facing her. She was holding her arms around his ribcage. Tatsumi pushing against her with both his arms. Trying to move away. But Esdese's hold was unbreakable for him at this point.

He already knew that this form of resistance was futile. But he didn't care. The resistance in itself was so important to him right now. It was the only thing he could to escape from the fact that he loved her. The only thing he could do to not have to face that.

But as much as he was pushing against her, he was still moving closer to her. Esdese applying just a little bit more pressure than he could match. Making him slowly move against her. Her embrace slowly closing. Her smile, while inviting, not entirely gentle.

As she was about to press their bodies together, Tatsumi slithered down. Escaping her embrace as it closed above him. He started to move backwards in his small bed but one of her hands grabbed his shoulder. Causing him to lash out in panic.

As quickly and strongly as he could, he kneed her in the stomach. Just under her belly button. Esdese's body moving slightly backwards by the impact. Her eyes widened slightly and she exhaled a little bit stronger as his kick connected but that was the only reaction she gave him.

Tatsumi knew that he hadn't caused any damage. She had simply tensed up her abdominal muscles as he was about to hit her. He had felt that iron hard resistance under her smooth and warm skin. He could keep kneeing her when she tightend her muscles like that and in the end it would be his knee that took damage from the impact. Not her.

But the kick had an effect. He could tell that much. Not that it was the one that he had wished for.

As she was pushed back by the kick a bit, Esdese raised herself slightly from the bed. Starting to move closer to him again. And now her smile had teeth. Her eyes sharp and amused.

"That was a bit over the line, Tatsumi." she said. Her voice more excited than anything. "What do you think would happen if one of my pets raised their hand towards me?"

Tatsumi backed off as she advanced. Edging backwards while still remaining lying down on his side. Not having enough room to sit up or change his position. But his bed was small. Only meant for one person. After two decimeters, his back hit the wall behind him, which his bed was lined up against.

"I am not you pet." he protested.

"No. You are not." Esdese agreed but her advance did not stop. Slowly moving closer to him. Also lying on her side. "Doesn't mean that you don't need some punishment every now and then."

She raised her arm up towards him as she got closer. Her hand moving towards his face.

When she did, Tatsumi raised his hands up in front of him in a defensive gesture. His hands closed in fists. The move only made Esdese's smile widened. For her, this felt so much closer to what they had had. She found the situation mischievous and fun. He was resisting. Putting up a fight. Playing with her again. Making it possible for her to bully him in her own affectionate way.

She was so starved for these kinds of interactions with him that she momentarily forgot what their relationship was at the moment. Her sadistic and loving side overjoyed to experience this with her mate again.

Her hand stopped close to his fists. Just in front of his face.

"Tatsumi." she said. Her voice a warning. She had gotten really close to him now. Lying just in front of him on the bed. Looking down on him slightly. Her head positioned a bit above his on the bed because of her length. "What do you think will happen if you don't submit to your punishment?"

Tatsumi looked at her hand for some moments and then his eyes moved up to her own. His expression went from defensive to still. Just looking her straight in the eyes with a blank expression. Then he very slowly lowered his hands. Giving her hand free passage.

Satisfaction crept into Esdese's smile. Enjoying his submission. "There you go. Take it like a man."

Tatsumi sighed silently. When Esdese's hand started to move towards him again, he closed his eyes. He wasn't sure what was coming but was suprised when Esdese's hand grabbed a hard hold on his hair. She dragged him up to her level on the bed. Tatsumi grimacing slightly at the pain.

As soon as their faces were on the same level, Esdese kissed him. And not just a light peck on his lips, as she had already done a couple of times during his time in this cell. This was a much more intense interaction. Esdese's lips closing over his own. Her tongue moving it's way through his lips. When she found that his teeth were half closed, her hand moved down from his hair to his jaw and forced it open. Giving herself free entry.

Her tongue moved into his mouth. Happily moving down against his own tongue. Pressing it down a bit in some sort of strange greeting before re-exploring the rest of his mouth as her lips pressed against his.

At first Tatsumi just remained still and took what he hoped was just another punishment. But he soon enough realized that it was turning into something else.

Esdese soon started pressing herself against him rather strongly. Grinding their bodies together. Leaning into him. Soon enough she started to pull him out a bit from the wall with the hand that wasn't holding his face. Trying to make him roll over on his back. It became pretty clear that she wanted to be on top of him and that was when he realized that this was starting to turn into something much more.

He once again started to resist her. Pushing against her rather strongly. Moving his legs violently. But he was too close to her to kick her and his hands could do nothing but push against her. It didn't matter that he knew that his resistance might be futile. He needed to resist. The resistance was the only thing that he had. The only thing that made it seem like he hadn't just abandoned everything he stood for. That he hadn't just betrayed everyone.

After some struggle he managed to get his mouth free. "Cut it out!" he almost yelled. "Esdese!"

He didn't manage to say anything more before Esdese closed his mouth up with her own again. Muffling his voice. Her hand holding his jaw.

His struggle was only driving up her excitment. It had been so long since she had him like this. Her sadistic side enjoyed his reluctance and her nature was happy for a chance to dominate him. She was so caught up in the moment that she had completely forgotten what their relationship was right now. That they were not really on good terms at the moment. She momentarily forgot that this might not just be him playing hard to get.

It didn't take long before he was on his back and she had straddled his stomach. Her body bent down over his face. Her long hair falling down around them as her breathing got rougher.

"Stop!" Tatsumi yelled at her as she straigthened up a bit on top of him. Her hands holding down his arms.

"You are being very loud today, Tatsumi." she exclaimed back. Her cheeks red and her smiled wide.

"Let me go!" he shouted and tried to pull his arms up. Breathing just as heavily as Esdese. Though not for the same reason. "I don't want this!"

"Do you think I wouldn't notice it if you struggled enough, Tatsumi?" Esdese answered with a triumphant gleam in her eyes. "I felt it immediately. You want this."

"You're wrong!" he exclaimed.

"Ohh am I?" she returned. She moved up and put her knee down into his stomach. Pinning him down as she turned around slightly on top of him. She reached down with her hand and grabbed the lining of his underwear. Then with one strong pull, she tore them of him. Making the cloth tear apart. Revealing his manhood.

"Heh." Esdese said victoriously. Putting a finger on his strong erection. "You can deny it all you want. But I can tell that you like it." she continued as she turned her head around towards his face again.

Her smile died immediately.

When she had let go off his hands and turned around, Tatsumi had not struggled. She had noticed that but not payed it any attention. Instead his arms had simply went up and wrapped themselves across his head. Covering up his eyes. His teeth were clenched in a pained expression and tears were flowing down his chins.

He had stopped resisting. Giving up. Admitting to the fact that he had no chance to stop her. Having no choice but to let things happen as Esdese dominated him. But now that his chances of resistance were gone, so was the only facade that he had to protect his own morality. Once again he was faced with the full extent of what he had done. Not able to justify it with ambitions of greater good and hidden resistance. Once again unable to hide from the fact that he loved her.

His body had reacted to her as it always did. His young libido not really affected by his suffering. Instinctual and strong. Reacting as eagerly as it always did to her touch. But that only increased Tatsumi's immense self-hatred.

If he had had anything even remotley sharp in his vicinity, he would have stabbed himself in the chest with it. Right in that moment. Trying to pierce the heart that had betrayed him so. Of course he was aware that Esdese would probably have stopped him. Even that she would take from him.

Esdese herself froze the moment she saw his face. All the joy and excitment draining out of her in a second. The sight of him and his tears made her suddenly pay attention to what her instincts had been whispering about, behind all the excitment and sexual frustration.

Her mate was hurting. He was hurting greatly. And not in a way that she enjoyed.

When all the excitment and giddiness disappeared, she immediately realized just how much she had stepped over the line. Her passion for him had made her momentarily forget that things were not the same as they had once been between them at the moment. Her happiness at getting some contact with him, even if it was just his resistance, had made her forget that they were not just playing around.

And that she had been less than a minute away from outright raping him.

Uncertainty and dread welled up in her. So strong that it made her draw a sharp breath. She immediately pulled her knee back from him. Moving slightly away from his body. Severing all physical contact they had.

Had she just destroyed what little they had left together? Had she just killed her last chances at getting him back?

Esdese enjoyed being rough and forceful. She enjoyed cruelty. But what she desired the most from Tatsumi was his love. And even if they had used to play rough earlier, the situation was diffrent now. She could no longer feel that underlying joy in him. She no longer felt secure that she had him. She was no longer sure if she could get his love.

Esdese had been to hundreds of battles and overwatched most of their aftermaths. If there was one thing she knew about rape, it was that it did not create love but rather the opposite. She had never had the intention of raping him. Not even once during their long relationship. Even on all the occasions when she had just overpowered his complaints and refusals in bed before, she had still been able to sense that he enjoyed it. That he enjoyed being hers.

Now she felt no such thing and it made her realize that she might just have burned a bridge that was very important to her.

"Hey." she said gently. Moving up towards his face. A worried expression on her own. She reached up with an arm towards his face. But the moment her fingers touched the skin of his chin, Tatsumi froze up.

"Stop..." he said silently. Keeping the upper part of his face hidden under his elbows. "Please... just stop..."

Esdese's hand stopped it's very light touching of his face and moved a little bit back from it.

"Tatsumi, I..."

"Please... just stop.." Tatsumi said again before she had a chance to say anything else. His voice almost a whisper.

Her hand hovered in front of his face for some moments. It's fingers trembling slightly. Then it slowly closed into a fist. Clenched together so hard that you could hear the straining of her skin.

Tatsumi felt how she got up from the bed in a quick motion. He heard her brisk steps out of the room. Only slowing down slightly to look the door in the bars. When she left the room he turned to his side. Slowly crawling together into a ball. Grabbing his knees as the rooms outside of his filled with loud noises. The sound of loud bangs, the breaking of wood, the smashing of glass and porcelain along with tearing of cloth boomed through the walls at a deafening level. Probably audible to most parts of their level in the palace.

He remained in that position throughout the night.

Fifteen minutes after Esdese had left Tatsumi's bed, she walked into her own large and extravagant bedroom. Closing the door behind her with a bang. Leaving the completely decimated room behind her. The furniture, drapes, chandliers and floor were completely destroyed. Ruined by her hands in a level of fury that was extremly rare for her to express. Her panic, pain and irritation with herself and the entire situation needing an outlet.

She walked over and sat down on the edge of her large bed. Hunched forward. Her elbows on her knees. She sighed deeply.

The destruction of the other room didn't faze her in the slightest. It would probably be fixed in a day or two. But it was rare for her to lose her cool to that level. This had been the first time in years.

She looked at her hand. It was slightly bruised and she was bleeding a little bit from one of her knuckles. She moved her fingers up to her nose and smelled them. They still had a little bit his smell on them.

Her mate.

She couldn't do what her strategical mind thought was the smartest alternative and just remove him from her life. Even if she knew that it was what was normally expected of her. Her love and affection didn't allow her to do so. Yet now that she had been with him, it was her dominating and sadistic side that got the upper hand over her love. Damaging, if not destroying, her chances at getting what her heart desired.

She sighed again and put her hand over half her face. Resting her head down into it. "What the hell am I doing?"

* * *

**Author's note:**

**We once again leave the TatsumixEsdese camp in quite a dark place. I was slightly worried that people would start complaining over Tatsumi being too much of a wuss since this is the third chapter in a row that ends with him crying. I was afraid that it would make people forget that if there is one thing that Esdese's love story signifies in the manga, it is that you might be as strong and powerful as possible in some areas and it still might not help you with other problems or emotions.**

**But it seems like my worry was unwarranted since a lot of people actually found the torture scene in the last chapter genuinly disturbing. I am happy that it had it's intended effect but I have to wonder. Esdese is supposed to be the best torturer of her time. That level of horrifying insanity should be expected. The best torturer in the world would just not beat someone with a whip. She would find other ways to hurt people. Worse ways. Especially since the manga emphasizes that she is very creative.**

**Anyway, I have realized that setting a deadline in a number of days might not be the best way of going about things. Since I generally don't get much done on weekends and holidays. From now on I will instead set the deadline in dates instead. And I will write the date for the release of the next chapter at the top of each chapter. Changing them if they are delayed so that everyone will know when it comes. Hopefully that will help.**

**Thanks a lot for reading. I hope that you have enjoyed the ride so far. Things are about to accelerate as we now move towards the final part of this arc. Things are going to turn rather intense in the coming chapters. **

**As always, thanks for all your comments and reviews. They make this journey so much more fun for me.**

**Until next time, take care of each other.**


	33. Courting chaos

**I got caught up in something irl which made me unable to go online for some days. Thereby why the deadline wasn't updated. I will keep setting up release dates for the next chapter here and update them as they change.**

**Edit(13/12): Tomorrow! SOON! SORRY!**

* * *

**Courting chaos.**

Tatsumi was doing push-ups when his unexpected visitor came.

He was a little but unsure as to why he still spent so much time keeping his abilities in a good condition. He didn't really believe that he would ever be able to escape from his imprisonment. He didn't know what use he had of his physical abilities anymore. Without the power of Incursio, his abilities would never be anything more than a small amusement to Esdese. And she was the only one who was allowed to enter his cell. The attendants that gave him his regular meals, while Esdese was busy, all did this through the bars. Only Esdese had the keys to his cell and to Incursio's shackles.

But he still continued to train himself. Partly because there wasn't much else to do in his cell except train and read books. But also because it was his only way to fight the feeling of hopelessness that now was a part of his everyday life. When he trained he felt like he was at least doing something. That he was preparing. So if that unlikely day ever came when he would be given an opportunity, he would be as capable as he could be.

Not that he really believed that he would get such a chance. So he was quite suprised by his visitor's arrival.

He was not facing the door when it opened on the other side of the bars. He was facing the other way as he trained. At first he just ignored it. Assuming that it was on of the attendants that had come for some insignificant task.

But he quickly noted that these steps were different. They were lighter and smaller. Yet they had purpose and a certain confidence which the steps of the attendants lacked. And he was certain that it wasn't Esdese.

He turned his head around over his shoulder and then immediately stopped himself in the middle of a push-up.

In through the middle of the door, walked a small and frail little boy. Maybe ten years old at most. He was wearing the clothes of a military attendant. A more relaxed uniform. He had a large beret over his head that almost went down to his eyes. Concealing a little bit of his eyebrows. Yet some of his grey hair was till visible here and there. Sticking out from under the beret. The boy's hair had the exact same color as his eyes.

It had been some months since Tatsumi last saw him but he recognized the boy.

It was Jack. The little kid that Makeias had asked him to hide near the imperial court the night before the battle of Garu.

Tatsumi immediately got up. He walked towards the bars. "What are you doing here?" he asked in a hushed voice. He had been certain that the boy had been taken down to the torture chambers along with anyone else from his communication network. He was sure that if they followed their leads they would have found the boy. How had he avoided them when eveyone else got caught?

Tatsumi walked up to the bars. "Get out of here!" he whispered aggressively. "No one but the attendants and Esdese herself are allowed in here."

The boy just looked at him. His expression empty. He didn't move at all.

"Leave!" Tatsumi urged on. "She will tear you to pieces if she finds you in here."

Still the boy didn't move, he just stood there. After a little while, he reached inside of one of his pockets and brought forth a key.

Tatsumi almost felt his heart stop. He knew that key. It was one of two that he stared at everytime Esdese visited. They were the only copies that existed. And Esdese never let anyone else near them.

"Impossible." Tatsumi said silently. His jaw open. "You can't have that. Only Esdese knows where she keeps that."

The boy was holding the key to the main shackle that Incursio was locked up with. The teigu sealed to the pedestal with black chains. Way more durable than normal steel chains. He looked at Tatsumi for some moments. His expression not changing. Then he turned around and started to walk towards the teigu. Tatsumi's eyes following. Finally putting things together.

"You have come to steal it, haven't you?" he asked a little bit louder. Following the boy on his side of the bars. "Is that why you were placed in the capital to begin with? In order to steal teigus for the pillager?"

The little boy remained silent as he walked up to the podium and unlocked the giant shackle that held all the chains together. With a loud clattering, all the chains fell down to the sides of the podium. Incursio remaining on top of it. Finally free from its confinment.

Tatsumi looked on as the little boy took down the sword from it's resting place. There were so many things about this that he didn't understand. How had the little boy gotten access to this part of the palace? How had he known where to find Incursio? And how had he gotten the key from Esdese?

"This might be it for me." he said. More to himself than to Jack. He looked down at his hand. The black mark still visible on the palm of it. If Incursio wasn't near him then Morbus might very well come back to life inside of him. Which would mean his end. Tatsumi closed his hand. "But that might be for the better."

Before he had time to look up from his fist, a single object moved into his view. Obstructing the view of his hand with it's handle.

He slowly looked up. Jack had walked up to the bars. He was reaching in through them with an arm. The arm holding Incursio. It's handle pointed at Tatsumi.

Tatsumi stared at the boy in disbelief. He could almost not believe what was happening. Yet the grey eyes of the child on the other side remained empty as Tatsumi slowly reached up and grabbed the handle of his teigu. Jack let go of it when Tatsumi held it.

"The pillager wonders, Tatsumi, are you still unbroken?"

* * *

Kurome watched as Makeias and his followers walked into the big room on the opposite side of where her group was standing. Walking into the hall at a leisurely pace. All heads in the group moving around as they walked into the big hall. Taking in as much information as they could about it.

The room they were standing in was very large and dark. Dimly lit by a couple of torches hanging from the walls. The walls and roof was mostly made of mud and stone. Not really built around or decorated in any way. Giving the room the feel of a cave or a mine. The room had several exits. About ten of them. All lacking doors and doorframes. The exits out of the room looking more tunnels. In the middle of the room stood a long table with two chairs placed on opposite sides. Just like the last meeting. Akame was standing behind one of them.

They were in the basement of what seemed to be an old and abandoned fortress to Kurome. At least from what she had seen when they arrived. She knew that this was the place where night raid had decided to hold the meeting. Since Makeias had gotten to chose the timeframe.

They had been there for quite a long while now. Makeias and his retinue had been delayed with almost two hours. Arriving to the meeting long after night raid. Kurome herself wasn't sure as to why they had been so late.

It was easy for Kurome to tell that the group around her were fairly nervous. And the long wait hadn't eased their tension.

Akame was standing in front of the group. Just behind the chair that was intended for her. She was the only one in their group that seemed completely calm. Kurome herself was positioned to the far right of the group behind Akame. Isamu standing just a meter on her side. Keeping an eye on her. The well-built and blond man had been staying relatively close to her during the entire journey to the meeting place. Always watching her.

On the other side of their group stood the leader of the path of peace. Wearing his usual long robes, staff and huge animal skull on his head. Surrounded by his underlings.

Kurome looked at the group that was approaching them.

Makeias was walking in the front of them. Parts of his ruined cloak being dragged on the ground and his two spears strapped across each other on his back. A big smile on his pale face. Beside him walked Liza, the blonde little girl that acted as his bodyguard. Dressed in rags, with a big military helmet over her head. To the left of her, the tall Tom-Tom walked. Leaning on his staff with the big grey owl on his shoulder. Some steps behind him walked Kai. The main administrator of Makeias' forces. The young man wearing a red full plate armour and a long black cloak. An oversized sword strapped over his back.

But Kurome was focused on the other side of the group. On the other side of the group walked Leone. Surrounded by Makeias' tall and slender guardians. All armed with long and thin swords. But the blonde haired woman still held her head high and acted unpertubed. But Kurome's gaze immediately wandered to the person walking slightly behind her.

Wave was wearing the long black coat that he had been given by Esdese. When she made him into her admiral. He still wore it with pride, just as he was still proud to have been her subordinate. He had his teigu strapped across his back and a piece of cloth wrapped around his head. Covering up one of his eyes.

He had been loking around the room as soon as they had entered it. And now his eyes finally landed on Kurome. Meeting her gaze. His face shone up at the sight of her. A huge grin spreading out across his face.

Kurome couldn't help but feel a pang of something warm and tickling in her stomach at the sight of his cool yet dorky smile. She immediately forced those feelings down into herself though. This was not the time to relax. She was well aware that they were standing on the knife's edge right now.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen!" Makeias greeted loudly. Lifting his arms up slightly. "I hope you have been doing well since our last meeting."

"Greetings Makeias." Akame answered unsmiling. Her face devoid of emotions. "We have been waiting for you."

"Aahh my apologies for that. We ran into some small problems on our way here." Makeias said in an apologetic tone.

Akame noted how Leone's eyes moved to Makeias and then to her. Her gaze questioning. Akame understoood that if Makeias group had met with problems, Leone had not noticed it. "We have been here for almost two hours."

"Ok, some rather big problems." Makeias admitted. "But we are here now."

Akame was silent for some moments but then nodded. She sat down in her chair and Makeias did the same on his side. "So, what is your answer, Makeias?" Akame said and put her hands together in front of her face. Cutting straight to the chase.

Makeias bent a little bit forward as well. Putting an arm on the table. "I have talked at length with my advisors and administrators. We have been trying to find a way in which we could meet your demands and still maintain our chances at succeding with our goals."

"And?" Akame pressed calmly.

Makeias looked her straight in the eyes. "You will have to change the terms. As it stands right now, we cannot meet them."

The entire room tensed up a bit at those words.

"We will not compromise the main points, Makeias." Akame said. Sounding determined but not aggressive. "You must stop pillaging and raiding the people."

"We have been through this already. I will not be able to maintain my army without this.. _foraging_. The idea of having the people support my forces willingly is a sweet thought but it will not work out in reality. We are not the revolutionary army."

"So you are unwilling to let go off your power in return for the well-being of the people then?" Akame asked. Not lightening the tension in the room.

Makeias was quiet for a little while before he spoke. "I have made promises to my warriors and soldiers. I have made promises to my friends and comrades. I have made promises to those that have fallen to my ambition. I can't back down from that now."

Akame looked at him for some time. "You certainly are not the revolutionary army. We are sworn to stop the oppression of the people. And while you might have betrayed the empire, you still practice the same cruelty."

Makeias smile was almost apologetic. "A young man in the capital once told me that a tiger doesn't change his stripes. But I don't really believe that to be true." he said and rose from his chair. "Akame of night raid, will you not change your demands regarding this? If we unite, the empire will fall."

The room was absolutely silent. Everyone at edge. Akame looked up at Makeias. "What is the purpose of overthrowing a monstrous rule if it will only be replaced by more tyranny?"

"Please reconsider." Makeias tried. His smile staying.

"Never." Akame's voice was calm but there was a hard determination in her eyes that Makeias had seen before. He knew that she would never bend to his rhetorics and manipulation. If she had made her decisioin then he wouldn't be able to talk her out of it.

Makeias nodded. His grin finally disappearing. "A damn pity. We could have destroyed the rule of Esdese and the prime minister." he started to turn around. "Then we are finished here."

"Not quite."

Everyone held their breath as Makeias slowly turned his head around to Akame. He already had a guess of what she was going to say. Akame slowly rose up from her seat. Eyes closed. She took a deep breath.

"I wasn't joking around when I said that we are serious about stopping the oppression of the people. I have tried to make you stop through diplomatic means. But now that it failed, I will have to resort to other ways." she opened her eyes. "If you will not stop, then we will stop you." Akame proclaimed loudly. Putting her hand on the hilt of her teigu.

Makeias eyes looked at her sheated sword and then slowly moved up to her eyes. "Now which one of us is it that is creating violence?" he said and smiled again.

"You are a known deciever and traitor. I can not trust your word. And since you have refused an alliance with us, I will have to stop you forcefully." Akame said.

The entire room was looking at the two at the table. All absolutely still. Everyone sensing what was coming.

Akame slowly drew her sword. "If you lay down your arms and submit to captivity then you will all be spared." She pointed Muramase at Makeias over the table. The point of her sword half a meter away from Makeias' face. "But if you will not, then I will kill you, Makeias the pillager."

Silence ruled the moment. Makeias looking at Akame as he slowly turned back towards her. Still smiling faintly. "Pity."

The room interrupted into chaos in less than a second.

As soon as he had said that, Akame started to move forward but Makeias was ready. He immediately kicked the table between them. Sending it flying up towards her. Forcing Akame to slow down her acceleration as she cut it in half with a single swing. As she did, Makeias moved backwards.

Behind the both of them, fighting immediately ensued, as both Leone and Kurome leapt into action on their respective sides.

Kurome didn't hesitate for a second. She needed to get over to the group where she belonged on the other side. But to do that, she first needed to get rid of the one who was watching her. She spinned around and drew her sword as she did. Swinging with her teigu against Isamu as she turned around.

The young man was quick and managed to just barely avoid the swing that was meant to cut his stomach open by jumping backwards. Kurome immediately pressed on. She knew that the boy had the Black Marlin teigu. She would not give him a chance to use it. As he backed off, she jumped up and kneed him in the stomach. Since her sword was still returning from her initial swing.

The kick hit the boy right in the midsection. Causing him to lose all breath. He was very proficient in the use of his teigu but Kurome was faster than him. Not giving him a chance to activate it properly. He realized that it had been a mistake to stay so close to her. As he bent over from the kick, Kurome brought her sword up and shoved it through his neck.

She immediately knew that she had missed both his throat and his spine but she reasoned that it didn't matter. She drew her sword out of him and as he collapsed, she turned around and started to move towards the other side.

She only managed to run a couple of steps, though, before she immediately had to duck down to avoid the attack coming at her from behind. Only managing to detect it in the nick of time.

She split her legs and moved down. The coiling water projectiles flying past her head with just a few centimeters.

She shot a glance over her shoulder at Isamu. The young man was in a fighting stance. Ready to launch another attack. Water flowing up from bottles in his belt. Hovering around him in the air. He held a hand over his throat and Kurome realized she had made a mistake. She hadn't even considered that he might be able to use Black Marlin to control his own blood. She realized that she should have finished him off properly, instead of relying upon blood loss to do the job for her.

She turned around halfways but was still moving away from him. Preparing to avoid his incoming attack as she got ready to activate Yatsufusa.

Beside them, the group they were a part of was in movement. The administrative representatives and the leaders of the Path of Peace had immediately started retreating. Running towards the exit behind them. Everyone that was not a capable warrior escaping as fast as they could.

A very similar situation unfolded in the other group at the same time. Those that were not warriors started to run. But those fleeing from that group were much fewer. A large part of Makeias' administrative section were fighters as well. Even if they were not on par with what they were facing.

As Kurome had started to attack Isamu, Leone had started to move towards that group. To aid her allies. But as soon as she started to move towards them, Wave put himself in the way. A hand on the hilt of his teigu, strapped across is back.

"I do not wish to-" was the only thing he managed to say before Leone's fist hit his face. Activating Lionelle as she threw the punch.

But Wave already had a hand on his teigu and when her fist connected, he wore the armor of Grande Chariot. Leone could feel how her knuckes ripped and started to bleed from the impact but the punch was still strong. Aided by the power of Lionelle. Sending Wave flying backwards. He landed on his back but the force kept him moving. He involuntarily rolled around and landed on his feet. Five meters in front of Leone.

"I told you that I would beat the shit out of you if you turned against me." Leone called out. Her smile challenging. Wave took a fighting stance. As he did he cast a glance over his shoulder. The problem was that if he was going to put himself in front of Leone then he would put his back against the other group. But that didn't seem to be a problem for the moment. Those on the opposite side of where the table had been, were busy fighting Kurome.

He gave her a quick glance and then returned his focus to Leone. He knew that this was an opponent he couldn't win against if he didn't give it his all. A few of Makeias' personal guards had drawn their long and thin swords and were trying to encircle her. But there were only a handful of them. Most were rushing to help their leaders.

Just fifteen meters away from Wave, Akame moved past the midpoint between the groups. Pursuing Makeias as he was moving backwards. As she passed the chair that he had been sitting in she hit it with the side of her sword. Sending it flying towards her retreating opponent. It was easy for her to tell that Makeias would try to use his superior range to keep her away from him.

Both of them knew that this scenario favoured Akame. Only four seconds had passed since the fighting began and they were very close to each other. No one had time to activate some greater power or call upon any sort of attack the required time. It was a battle of simple close combat proficiency. And they both knew that Akame was the quicker one of two of them. That superior speed would usually not amount to much against an opponent with such ridiculous endurance and resilience as Makeias. But Murasame changed that. And they both knew it.

Akame accelerated behind the chair as it flew towards him. She needed to get past his spears. Then this fight would be over.

Makeias was forced to swat the chair to the side with one of his two spears. One of his arms occupied with that swing. As he did, Akame moved past it. His other long arm made a huge swing at her from the other side with it's spear. But they were close to each other and Makeias didn't have time to focus any strength into his blow.

Akame blocked it with her sword and kept moving forward. Her sword pressed against his spear as she ran in between his long arms. Murasame moving across the length of Makeias spear.

Makeias immediately realized that the he would not be able to bring his other spear around in time to block or swat her away. His long weapons were too unwieldy in this type of scenario. So when Akame moved closer he let go off the spear that Murasame was holding off. His hand quickly moving down and grabbing the wrist that had the main grip on her teigu.

Akame had not been prepared for this. She hadn't been focused on his hand as she moved past it. Only his weapon. So when he grabbed her, her movements were janked back a bit by his hold. Her approach somewhat halted. Yet her eyes remained on him.

She could tell the he was planning something. His head was moving upwards a little bit. He was probably going to shoot something at her. Probably from his mouth or eyes. But she wouldn't give him that opportunity.

She knew that she didn't have time to start pulling at his grip. She didnt know his stength but she knew that she didn't have time to start tugging to get free. She reached behind her with her free hand and grabbed the long knife that she kept on her lower back. She immediately stabbed it right through the arm that was holding her. Since she couldn't reach his body.

The sharp knife went right through Makeias' arm. Just above the wrist. But his grip didn't let up. To her suprise. She was sure that she had hit a spot that should have destroyed his control over his hand. But he didn't let go.

Akame didn't have time to act suprised. His counterattack was coming. Whatever it was. And she had a feeling that she couldn't allow it.

She threw herself up lengthwise against him. His arm was way to long for her to be able to reach her with her free hand but if she threw her body up in the air lengthwise, then her feet could reach him.

She kicked him three times as her body moved up into the air. The first kick hit his groin. The second his chest. And then lastly, both her feet hit his throat in unison.

The attack was strong enought to make Makeias lose his balance. He let go off her arm as he flew some meters backwards. Landing on his back as Akame landed on her side. The spear Makeias had dropped hitting the ground just before her. The whole exchange had lasted for two seconds.

Makeias started to get up but Akame was faster. She leapt on her feet and launched herself towards the pillager as he was starting to stand up. But she didn't get too far before Kai stepped in front of her. The young man's armor clinking with his fast movements. His giant sword drawn in front of him.

"No, you fool!" Makeias shouted behind him as Kai attacked Akame.

Akame could tell that the young man in front of her was a soldier. His stance and fighting techniques screamed of military training. The man was well-trained. Probably weighing twice at much as her. And Akame only needed a glance at his eyes to see that this man had survived some horrible experiences. By his first swing, she already had more respect for him than she had for the pillager.

She finished it with three swings.

Kai was quick and strong. But he was way too rigid in his fighting style. A result of his formal training. He immediately went to strategies and swings that were standard for swordsmen. Not yet on a level where he could freely improvise his fighting style. And Akame had fought hundreds of soldiers. She recognized his moves before he had even completed them. By the third attack, she threw in a curveball. Changing the direction of her swing in the last moment. Her change of direction robbing her swing of all it's strength. But that was all that was needed.

Kai had no training in how to deflect such an attack. Since it normally wasn't necessary. Since such a weak attack couldn't cause any serious damage. So he didn't managed to avoid it as Akame's blade lightly, almost gently, graced the top of the knuckles on one of the hands that was holding his sword. Murasame just barely cutting through his skin. Drawing blood but not giving him pain. But it was enough.

"KAI!" Makeias screamed as the younger man's body became limp. Noticing what had happened before Kai had even started to fall over. And as he was starting to fall over, Akame bolted past him. Heading for Makeias. Her fight with Kai over so fast that Makeias hadn't even risen fully yet.

But before she could get to him, a new figure obstructed her path. The man almost twice as tall as her. Even with how bent forward he always was.

Tom-Tom had stepped in to stop her.

Akame didn't hesitate for a moment. Immediately attacking the slim giant. But this time, the fight didn't resolve itself that quickly.

By the ninth swing, Akame had to back off for a second to gather herself.

The man in front of her had responded to her attacks with precision. Blocking her sword with his staff. The owl on his shoulder immediately flying away as they began their fight. Akame had quickly realized that this was not going to go down in the same way as her fight with Makeias' other subordinate.

This old man in front of her was the fastest fighter Akame had ever fought. Quicker than Makeias, faster than Esdese and by far more agile than herself. He did not have much strength to his swings and moves but when it came to pure instinctual sensitivity and reaction speed, he was beyond them all.

Luckily for Akame, she quickly noted that he was not a very experienced fighter. He was the opposite of Kai. It was clear to her that the old man had never had any proper training in how to fight. He simply relied on his speed and instincts. But he was calm. Even now. And that made it hard for Akame to get through him. She herself was also mainly trained for speed. The power of her teigu made it the best fighting method. To go for speed in order to get some small attack to hit. Relying on Murasame to do the rest.

But against this specific opponent it didn't help her. For while she could feel that she had slightly more strength to her attacks than him, he was quicker than her by far. Rendering her fighting style ineffective.

Due to the chaos that had erupted all around them, Akame almost failed to detect it when the suprise attack from the side descended.

In the last moment, she disengaged from her close combat with Tom-Tom and jumped backwards. Just a heartbeat before Liza smashed down where she had been standing. A vicious downwards kick directed at where Akame had been. The kick destroying the ground. And as Akame landed two meters away, Liza pursued. Throwing the big metal helmet she had worn on her head at her as she got close.

Akame deflected the big headgear with a swing of her sword but then Liza caught it on the rebound. Using it to block Akame's sword as she got close.

Akame was suprised by the combat proficiency the small child showed her. She was strong, quick and fierce in her fighting. Yet she had a certain instinct when it came to her reactions. She didn't have any armor or weapon, so she used her big metal helmet to block and deflect the swings of Muramase. Holding it in one of her hands as she tried to get any of her kicks and hits to connect. But that did also limit her movements since it seemed like she knew what a single cut from her opponent would mean.

But soon enough, Akame managed to outmaneuver her. Exposing an opening on the smaller girl's left side. But as she was about to finish the fight with a swift blow, Tom-Tom's staff moved in and parried the attack. The old man joining the fight again on the little girl's side as they pressed the attack together.

Akame held her own against the two of them but they were a good match. Tom-Tom acting as defense with his superior reaction time and Liza pushing the attack with her fierce strength. Akame had a hard time getting through them.

So after a short exchange, she backed off slightly. She had to use some tricks to bring these enemies down. But before she could decide on what to do, Makeias had gotten up, picked up on of his spears and started to run away to the side. Heading towards one of the tunnels leading out of the room.

Akame launched herself after him. Moving sideways away from Tom-Tom and Liza. She knew that the two of them would probably just follow her on their side and continue to obstruct her path but she had to try and outrun them. She couldn't let the pillager get away.

To her suprise, they didn't follow her. She could feel how they remained in place as she speeded after Makeias. To her relief. She doubled her efforts as she pursued after the pillager as he ran into one of the tunnels that led out of the room. Leaving the fighting behind him.

She cast a quick glance over her shoulder as she left the room herself.

She didn't like the thought of leaving her subordinates there to fight alone. But she trusted them. They had planned for this. Their reinforcements would be here any second now. And if she was lucky, Kurome would keep her offer in mind. Hopefully giving it to Wave soon enough. Either way, she couldn't stop. She had to bring down Makeias.

She had to stop him. For all the people that he pillaged and killed. For her two apprentices that he had killed.

For Najenda.

Akame accelerated as she went into the tunnel. Chasing after Makeias.

* * *

"The prime minister is currently sitting in a meeting, eight floors above us. He has two teigu users guarding the meeting but not many regular guards." Jack said in his empty voice as Tatsumi put on some gloves. Getting ready to leave his cell. Incursio lying on the table in it.

"And Esdese?" Tatsumi asked as he fixed the last buckles on his gloves.

"The great general is not in the palace at the moment. She is down in the city. Making a suprise inspection of the captain of the city guards."

"How do you know all this?" Tatsumi wondered as he walked over to the table where Incursio was.

Jack ignored his question. "I would guess that you have an hour or two before she returns here."

"An hour or two to do what, exactly?" Tatsumi said and looked at the pale little kid. "What is it that you expect me to do?"

Jack returned his gaze with empty eyes. "I don't know." he stated plainly.

"Then why did you just tell me all this?" Tatsumi said with a grim look.

"Because I was instructed to do that."

Tatsumi looked at the small child for some moments. He had a pretty good idea of what was going on. Makeias had given the boy these instructions because he wanted Tatsumi to cause as much damage as possible for him. The question was how Makeias had found out about his current situation. How had Makeias learned where Esdese kept the keys to his cell and Incursio? Or rather, how had Jack learned about it?

"How did you get Esdese's key?" Tatsumi asked as he reached the table.

"This is not her key. It is a replica. She carries the keys with her wherever she goes. She only let's them go when she showers or bathes. So I had to take it away, replicate it and then return it before she noticed it. If I stole it she would have changed all the locks immediately."

Tatsumi looked at the child again. "I am a highly trained assassin with a teigu that gives me invisibility. And even I find it hard to sneak up on her. How the hell did you manage to not only steal it, but then return it without her noticing it?"

"She did notice that the keys had someone else's smell on them. But she dismissed it since she felt confident that no one else had touched them." Jack explained.

Tatsumi just stared at the boy. "How the hell do you know that?"

Jack met his gaze for some moments but then turned around. "You are losing time, Tatsumi."

Tatsumi looked at him for some seconds but then turned towards the table again. He grabbed the pencil that was lying on it and turned one of the papers on it around on it's back. Putting the pencil down towards it. He hesitated for some moments. Then he quickly wrote out his small message.

After that he grabbed Incursio and walked over to the bars. He took a deep breath and looked down at the sword in his hand.

_This will probably be the last time, _he thought to himself._ So give me all the power you have._

He wasn't sure what he was feeling at the moment. He felt a lot of desperation. Yet he was happy. He had almost given up hope. Not thinking that he would ever get a chance like this. Now he might actually manage to make a diffrence after all. And still, he felt pain. Pain of what he was probably going to leave behind forever now.

He looked over at the note that he had left on the table. He hoped that she would see it someday.

He turned his gaze forward again and summoned the power of Incursio into him. Activating it's power.

With two single cuts, the bars were destroyed. Sent flying by the still flowing force of his transformation. The force of it making Jack fall over. Due to his weak physique.

Tatsumi quickly moved through the room. He only stopped momentarily at the door. Turning his head to Jack. "You okay?"

No one could see it because of the helmet but Tatsumi's eyebrows rose up in suprise at the sight of the little boy.

He was on his way back up. Quickly adjusting his big beret to conceal his head. Hiding what was attached to it. But Tatsumi had already seen it. He immediately recognized it. It had been many years since he last saw it but he still recognized it immediately.

The boy had the teigu known as Spectator attached to his head.

Tatsumi didn't manage to see properly but it looked like it was somehow nailed to his skull. Suddenly Tatsumi understood a lot of things. Yet it still raised a lot of questions. Tha teigu had been in the hands of the revolutionary army the last time he had heard anything about it. How had Makeias gotten his hands on it?

"How did..." he began but the little boy interrupted him.

"GO!" he exclaimed loudly. "You are wasting the small chance you have, Tatsumi!"

Tatsumi hesitated for a moment. Looking at the boy. Then he turned around and ran out of the room.

He knew that Jack was right. He had so many question he wanted to ask but he didn't have much time. And the answers he would get wouldn't matter in the end. Since he didn't think that he would survive this. Yet he had to do it. He had to focus all of himself into this.

Every sacrifice that had been made might be given a purpose if he could just succeed with this.

All his friends. All his comrades. All those that he had loved. All those that were gone now.

He would make their deaths matter, he swore to himself once again as he accelerated out of Esdese's chambers. Activating his invisibility as he did. He would give their struggles and suffering meaning. He would get it all to make sense. All the fighting and all the trials.

He would give his friends justice along with the rest of the empire. He would give himself vengance. He would dedicate every single part of his existence to this last mission.

And he would kill the prime minister.

* * *

**A slightly longer a****uthor's note:**

**With this, the final part of this arc can begin. The coming chapters will be quite intense. Kinda like the "between" chapters that described the battle at Garu. And just in the same way, these coming chapters will all be describing a single passage of time and will thus be a bit more interweaved than the chapters usually are.**

**I always found it a bit funny how the teigu Spectator was completely overlooked in the manga. Imo it is easily the most powerful teigu of them all. Or at least up there with the best of them. I mean, it's combat proficiency isn't all that great but why would you ever have to fight anyone with a tool like that. Being able to read the mind of those in you vicinity? That is a way more powerful tool than any combat based teigus. In the case of this story, Makeias is using it to completely outmanouver the imperial military. Making the empire's armies useless against him. And his spy will know everything the leaders think but will stll be untraceable to any of the information.**

**One more thing, if you have a question for me, please don't ask the question anonymously. It makes it impossible for me to reply directly to you. There are about a thousand people that read these new chapters and I don't want to occupy their time with the question of one person. I will happily answer any question that you have but I won't answer anonymous questions in author's notes unless a lot of people asks them. And even if I read every word in it, I am reluctant to personally engage in this story's comment section.**

**One last thing that I will shortly adress since it now has been asked several times by at least three diffrent people. **

**No, Esdese is not barren in Bent but not Broken. She is fully capable of bearing children. **

**Do you really want to know what kind of contraceptive method she uses? There are ways, believe me. Some of the oldest contraceptive medicines dates to hundreds of years BC. And they have already invented firearms in the AGK universe. I haven't described exactly how Esdese does it. Just as I haven't described Tatsumi's bathroom visits or Akame's menstrual cycles. You don't write about these things if they don't serve a point in the story. If there will come a time when one of them does, then I will write about it. It's all for the purpose of the story.**

**It has already been stated in earlier chapters that Esdese has little interest in things that would distract her from doing the things she loves to do. Since that is how I percieve her in the manga. I find that to be enough of an explanation as to why she doesn't have any children yet. Though things might of course change. Esdese changed in regards to Tatsumi over the course of the manga and she has changed during the course of Bent but not Broken. Things might change. Might.**

**Anyway, thank you all for reading. And thanks for all the encouragement in the form of messages, comments and reviews. It is what keeps things going.**

**Until next time, take care of each other.**


	34. When everything withers

**A slightly shorter chapter than usual. Despite the delays.**

**Edit: New chapter finally is out.**

* * *

**When everything withers.**

Noctuaz sat on a beam up on the ceiling in the large room. The owl teigu's gaze directed down at the fighting below it. It's eyes black with small shining dots in them. Chaos had very quickly taken hold over the big room under it.

A little while after Makeias and Akame had left the hall, more people had come running into the big room from the tunnels. Mostly warriors of the revolutionary army. Joining the battle immediately. Attacking Makeias' men and soldiers.

It wasn't affecting Wave much at the moment though. He was still locked in combat with Leone and there were few of the arriving fighters that were powerful enough to join in on that. Most of them realizing that their participation would be meaningless.

Wave had his teigu equipped. He had taken a few hits but were still in good condition.

Ha was, however, facing a dilemma. Leone had proved to be an formidable opponent. He had started to realize that he might actually be outgunned in this fight. Even with four of Makeias' personal guards aiding him. But then Makeias had left. Akame had been the only one that followed him. So suddenly Wave got reinforcements in the form of Tom-Tom and Liza. Which had shifted the scales of the fight immediately.

Now Leone was being pushed back. It was apparent that she could not win this fight against Wave, Tom-Tom,Liza and some of Makeias' guards. Yet she fought on. Not showing any signs of surrender at all. To Wave's dismay. He really didn't want this to end with her death. Yet he didn't know if his comrades were as merciful. He could imagine that he might be able to convince Tom-Tom to spare Leone. The old giant had always seemed like a kind and gentle creature. He was more uncertain about Liza.

Liza was constantly moving around Leone. Attacking any opening that she could find while Leone was occupied with Wave. Tom-Tom stayed more in the background. Only moving in and intercepting Leone whenever she started to on the offensive against Wave. But Leone kept strong. She had taken some vicious blows from Liza but the resilience of Lionelle was showing through.

"Surrender, Leone." Wave shouted as he blocked a brutal punch with both his hands. His feet digging into the floor to resist the force of it. "You will be spared!"

"Hah." Leone cried out loudly and swung at him again. "I guess that you haven't noticed the reinforcements that are arriving."

Just as she finished her punch, Liza suddenly appeared on her side. Right under her left arm. "Too few, too slow!" the little girl screamed as her leg hit Leone in the stomach. The brutal kick sending Leone gliding sideways across the floor. A hand on her stomach but still standing up.

"You guys should be the ones to surrender." Leone said defiantly through closed teeth.

Wave shot a quick glance at their surroundings. Leone had a point but Liza was right. The room was slowly being filled with warriors and soldiers of the revolutionary army. They were already outnumbering Makeias' forces by a rather large margin. But few of them were on the level where they could make a diffrence against oponents like Kurome or himself.

If the reinforcements kept coming then Wave was sure that they would be overwhelmed sooner or later. But as it looked now, it would not be in time for Leone.

Wave was acting as defensive as he could but Liza was forcing him to press the attack in order to not let Leone counter her properly.

A minute later, Wave's attention was momentarily moved over to the side of their fight by the approach of Kurome.

She came running towards them. Avoiding the fights all around her. She was breathing rather heavily and had a cut along her right cheek. A small stream of blood trailing down it.

"You okay?" he shouted to her as he backed off a little bit from the fight with Leone. Leaving it to Tom-Tom and Liza for the moment.

Kurome nodded. "That guy with Black Marlin is a thougher nut than I first expected. I cut him up pretty badly but he is still keeping it together. But I managed to lose him." She quickly looked around. "We need to get out of here. Where is Makeias?"

"He and Akame left and ran into that tunnel." Wave said and pointed. "I think it leads to the upper levels."

Kurome's eyes narrowed. "I have to go after them."

"Do you think that the general will need help?" Wave asked and gave her a look.

"Maybe." Kurome said emptily. Thinking about Akame. She felt the outside of one her pockets. Feeling that the letter was still there. The letter Akame had given her on the train. The letter with Akame's offter to her and Wave. "I need to get to Akame."

"This again." Wave said and jumped a little bit backwards. Backing of a bit further as the fight in front of him moved a little bit closer. "This is not the time for sibling rivalry."

"I am well aware." Kurome answered quickly.

Wave looked at her. She had always prioritized her missions. She had always been able to put her personal feelings aside in order to be efficient. Wave realized that that might be the case here as well.

He sighed. "Fine. Just don't do anything stupid."

"It feels kinda bad to hear that from you." Kurome said with a smile.

"Hey!" Wave exclaimed but smiled as well. He had missed her so. "I will start to move our people out of here soon enough. We will retreat to the upper levels. Meet us there."

Kurome nodded and started to move past him. As she did, she quickly grabbed one of his hands. Squeezing the cold metal as she did. Without leaving the fight in front of him with his eyes, he squeezed back. Lightly, in fear of damaging her soft hand with his teigu's gauntlet.

And then she was gone. Running away from the fight. Towards the tunnel.

"You better come out of this in one piece!" Wave shouted after her.

"Same to you!" she shouted back as she ran through the room. Avoiding any fights and opponents as she zigzagged through the commotion.

She entered the tunnel quickly and started to race through it. She needed to find Akame before anything serious happend. She needed to let her sister know her answer. She needed to tell Akame that there still was something between them. And that she was willing to try.

* * *

Tatsumi reached his first big obstacle after ten minutes.

He had quickly moved up through the palace. He didn't have a clear idea of where the prime minister was but he thought it would be easy to locate. Jack had given him the level where the prime minister was. Not that that narrowed it down completely. Even in the highest part of the palace, where the floors grew smaller, an entire level was still quite a big area to cover. Tatsumi would have to rely on that the heavy security would clue him in on where the meeting was taking place.

But he actually met his first obstacle before he even reached that level.

When he reached the large stairs that led up to the floor he was heading for, it was sealed off. The giant gate leading to the stairs was shut thight. Guarded by a group of people. The man in front of them easy to recognize.

It was general Gallus. The muscular bald man standing in the front of the group. With his hammer resting on the floor. Holding it with both his hands. His black and white clothes making the warrior priest easy to distinguish.

Tatsumi halted himself as he reached them. His invisibility still activated. Not in fear of being revealed yet. But he had to get through that door. One way or another.

He didn't think it wise to fully activate Incursio yet. The power that transformation would generate would probably be detectable to most people in the palace. There was no better way to alert the prime minister of what was going on. Or telling Esdese where he was.

He knew that he would probably have to do so sooner or later but he was convinced that this was still too early to do it. If he got caught up in a fight with Gallus here, then he would most likely fail. He was still too far away from his target.

He had to get past the general and his guards without them noticing somehow.

He looked at them for a little while. If he could just get the door open then he could probably get through without any of them noticing. He didn't think that general Gallus' perception was that strong. He knew that the man probably had some hidden capabilities when it came to combat. He was a general after all. But Gallus had never striked Tatsumi as a man with very sensitive instincts.

However, he could not just open the door himself. He needed to get somebody else to do it. Preferably having something that occupied the groups attention while he snuck through.

He moved around the group. Sneaking up to the side of the wall the giant door was on. The group was idly chatting about when they thought Esdese would catch Makeias and what would happen to him then. Gallus being the only one who remained silent. Which worried Tatsumi slightly.

He moved up the side of the door behind the group. He stood still for a while to make sure that no one had realized that he was there. When no one reacted, he slammed the door hard three times with his fist and then quickly moved away from it.

The entire group turned towards it. It was clear that they hadn't expected someone to knock on it from the other side.

General Gallus took a couple of steps towards it. He thought that something had been strange about how that sounded.

"Did any of you knock on the door?" he asked the men around him in his deep and gentle voice.

When the men around him stayed silent and shook their head, the general nodded to the one closest to the door. "Open it."

The man he nodded to immediately did as he was told. Walking up to the door and pushing it open with the side of his body. The several meter high door slowly opening up a bit.

As the door was opening. A shout could suddenly be heard from the back of the group. Furthest from the door. Gallus immediately turned his head in the screams direction. As he did, he thought he felt a strong wind blow past his head. He walked up to where the shout came from. One of the men was lying down on the floor. Two of his friends crouched down beside him.

"What happened?" Gallus asked. His face concerned.

"We don't know, sir." one of those crouching beside him said. Sounding worried. "He must have tripped. I think he hit his head pretty badly."

Gallus went down on a knee and put a very light hand on the man's neck.

"He is heavly damaged. Don't move him." he said and slowly stood up. Looking at some of the other men. "Fetch a medic team immediately."

Two soldiers detached themselves from the group and ran away to get help. Gallus looked at the man on the floor. "He just fell and nearly broke his neck, huh?"

He threw up his giant hammer over his shoulder and turned around. Walking up to the door. He walked past the man who had opened it and looked in, to other side of it. Behind the giant doors there was a long and wide stair. Probably going on for almost fifty meters. But Gallus could not see anyone there. Nor any evidence that somebody had just pushed through.

"Then who knocked?" he said to himself. It wasn't really a question. He turned his head around. "Stay here and close the door. Don't open it until I return." he ordered.

Gallus started to climb the stairs as the men behind him nodded and started to close the doors.

Gallus had no idea about any of Incursio's abilities. Nor was he aware of Tatsumi's betrayal. Since the prime minister and Esdese had kept his imprisonment a secret to anyone who didn't need to know. So he didn't have the slightest guess of what was going on. But he could feel that something was off. And even if it was just a hunch, he thought it best to just head up and check that everything was going well.

So he slowly started to climb the stairs.

A long, long bit ahead of him, Tatsumi was speeding through the corridors on the floor above.

All the rooms he ran through were deserted. It seemed like the entire floor had been evacuated for this meeting, Tatsumi reasoned. But that also made it easier for him. It took him less than five minutes to locate the part of the floor that he was searching for. He knew that he had found what he was looking for since it was guarded.

The long corridor that led to the rooms furthest to the right of storey was occupied by three persons. Tatsumi recognized one of them immediately.

It was the last living member of Wild hunt; Dorothea. The alchemist that had been in the prime minister's service ever since she was recruited by his son. She was accompanied by two guards.

Tatsumi knew who this girl was pretty well. He had kept tabs on all the teigu wielders stationed in the capital during his time with Esdese. He had kept a close look on all the members of Wild Hunt. And he had watched with no small satisfaction as the group got smaller and smaller. Now, the woman in front of him was the only remaining member.

Wild Hunt had been one of the few enemies that he had shared with his lover. Esdese also wishing to see the group dead but not being in a position where she could do much more than make sure that they were demoted and restricted at every chance she got. Because while the Jaegers were designed to keep order and hunt down specific targets, Wild Hunt had seemed to work against their purpose in almost every regard.

So that had been one of the few areas where Tatsumi and Esdese enjoyed their darker sides together. Esdese happily describing the end of their members to an interested Tatsumi at several occasions. Which was why Tatsumi had also known how Esdese would react if he could fool Izou to attack him in front of her.

Dorothea was standing in the middle of the corridor. Writing something down in a small book she was holding. The two guards standing behind her.

Tatsumi backed off a couple of steps. Back around the corner. He needed to get through this corridor to reach the point where he now suspected the prime minister to be.

But he had an idea.

As far as he knew. Nobody but a select few knew of his betrayal. Since Esdese had told him that all his crimes had been written off the records in return for her promise that she would keep him restrained until the end of his days. If he assumed that Dorothea didn't have any idea about what had happened, then he could probably get a headstart. Not that he thought that she would let him pass just like that. But if he had the element of suprise then he could hopefully finish this quickly. Maybe without even fully activating Incursio.

He deactivated his teigu and put in its sheath across his back. He took a deep breath and then walked around the corner.

As soon as he passed the corner, Dorothea lowered the book she had been writing in and the guards tensed up.

"Yo!" Tatsumi greeted and raised a hand. Keeping the other in his pocket. He didn't want to seem too friendly. That would seem out of place. This girl had been trying to rape him. And the very few and brief interactions they had had after Esdese had saved him from that had been rather cold.

Dorothea put away her small book. A somewhat suprised expression on her face. "What are you doing here? This floor is sealed off."

"I have a important message for the prime minister from the great general." Tatsumi said as he walked up to them.

"What message?" Dorothea asked. Looking sceptical.

"Not really meant for your ears, I'm afraid." Tatsumi said with a smile.

Dorothea looked at him at him. Not hiding how she disliked the situation. "Then do you have some kind of permit or letter signed by Esdese?"

"She didn't think it would be necesseary." Tatsumi said with a shrug. "Everyone in the capital knows that I work for her."

Dorothea didn't budge. "So you want me to let you pass without anything to go on but your word."

"It was enough for general Gallus." Tatsumi said. He could see that that made her uncertain. He could see the doubt that appeared in her eyes. But in the end she stood fast.

"I can't afford to make mistaked in this position. I will not let you pass." she said finally. Sounding resolute.

Tatsumi walked a step closer to her. "Do you really want to risk that?" he asked. Being really close to her now. "I think you are aware that you shouldn't give Esdese any reason to punish you."

"Walk away." Dorothea said sternly. "Fetch me a permission or something like that. Until then, I will not let you pass."

Tatsumi noted how her to guards had started to slowly walked up to his sides. Their hands on their weapons.

"You sure about this?" he asked.

Dorothea slowly nodded. Tatsumi stood still for a moment. Then he just shrugged. "Fine. Don't say that I didn't warn you." he said and turned around. Feeling how the three behind him were relieved to see him leave.

He took one step and then attacked.

He spun around swiftly, drawing his sword as he did. Swinging with it in the same moment. Going down to one knee with the movement..

Only Dorothea was quick enough. She jumped backwards but still got a considerable cut across her chest. The same swing cutting her two guards in half. She moved backwards quickly. A hand over her bleeding chest. One eye closed in pain. But there was still a bitter smile one her face when she stopped her short retreat backwards.

"I knew that something was up." she wheezed.

Tatsumi put his sword arm behind him. Getting ready to activate his teigu as the remains of the two guards fell down on the floor. His expression serious. He had to finish this quickly. He didn't have much time. And if he was forced to fully activate Incursio then he knew that general Gallus would be able to sense it. He would be heading for them immediately.

Along with the woman he loved.

* * *

Akame raced through the underground tunnel. Wearing a gas mask over half her face. Obscuring her mouth and nose. Having put on the equipment as she moved. She could hear voices and shouts from every door that she passed. The sound of battle audible in the distance. It seemed like it had spread from the room where they had had the negotiations.

She knew that she was catching up to him. He would soon be forced to face her or risk being attacked in the back. She couldn't see him since he had just passed a corner. He seemed to just be trying to get away from her. He should not have any idea of where he was heading. But Akame did. She knew this base like the back of her hand. Since it had always been a part of their trap to fool the pillager and his forces that their meeting place was on neutral ground. When it was actually inside one of their bases. She had the home turf. And that brought some significant benefits.

Not only did she know where he was heading but she knew that reinforcements should have arrived to all her friends down at the meeting. Though she didn't think that they would come for her anytime soon. This was not what they had planned for. But she was fine with that. Involving more people would probably work in Makeias' favor. She had all she needed. She would finish him off.

She crossed the corner and jumped in through the door waiting for her behind it. Already knowing exactly where it went. The door already wide open.

She squinted slightly as she was met with bright sunlight. Landing on grass, between two trees. She had entered one of this base's two large green rooms. Filled with vegetation and plants. The ceiling almost fifty meters above her. Completely made of glass so that the light could shine down into the huge room. The two rooms were used for plantation and training mainly. But now it was empty due to the meeting that had been held. Empty with the exception of the two of them.

Akame looked around. She could not see the pillager anywhere since her sight was obscured by all the vegetation. She listened intently but the rooom was absolutely quiet. Most of the sounds from the battle outside of this room isolated by all the flora.

She took a couple of slow steps forward. She was a bit uncertain of what to do. She couldn't rush into this. She could no longer detect Makeias so he was likely hidden. There was a chance that he would try to ambush her. But if she took it too slow, he might be able to escape her. If he wasn't lying in wait for her. After some moments she decided that it was more likely that he was still fleeing. She started to move faster. Starting to slowly jog as she remained as perceptive of her enviorment as possible.

She knew that this giant room only had one other exit. Beside the one they had entered through. And that was on the other side of the room. She started to move towards it. Walking briskly while she kept her insincts on absolute between the trees and bushes. When she had moved through a little more than half the room, she heard him call out. His voice the only sound in the silent room.

"Do you know what the most dangerous diseases in the world is, Akame?"

The voice was coming from the end of the room. A good bit in front of her. She immediately started to accelerate towards that position. Both hands on her drawn sword.

"It is not actually the deadliest diseases that are the most dangerous ones. Because they rarely manage to spread too far. Since those who get sick die too quickly."

Akame noticed that his voice had moved to her side now. When she jumped through the foilage in front of her, the exit came into her view.

The door itself, along with the plants and trees around it, were black as oil. Covered by a thick layer of gooey liquid. Glistening in the sunlight. The black color spreading a bit around the doorframe. Akame stared at it for some moments. Then she suddenly realized that it was not just the vegetation around the door. All around her, the plants and grass had started to slowly shift color. Very slowly turning to a darker green. Akame guessed that they would soon be black as well.

She immediately turned around and raced towards the other door. Starting to guess what was happening.

"What is most dangerous; is the diseases that aren't detectable for a long while. The ones that spread to many people before they kill you."

The voice was coming from the door they had both entered through. Akame realized that she at some point must have passed him. He had probably remained hidden somewhere when she came running. Then leaving his hiding place as soon as she had passed and doubled back.

She reached him in five seconds. But when she did. She couldn't get close.

Makeias was standing in a relaxed pose, some meters in front of the doorway that they had entered through. Holding one of his spear in his hand. Having been forced to leave the other one behind down at the meeting. All the vegetation around him was completely black. The dark corruption spreading almost ten meters in all directions around him. The door behind him and it's surrounding completely covered in it as well. Leaves were falling down from the trees around him constantly. The black petals flowing through the air all around him. All the grass between them was just as black.

"Of course, people often forget that plants are just as susceptible to diseases as we are. It just takes a diffrent form." Makeias said and smiled at her. Grabbing one of the falling leaves with his free hand.

Akame stared at him in disbelief. Noticing how the blackness was slowly spreading in all directions. "Did you infect the plants in this entire room just during the small time we have been here?" she asked him

Makeias shook his head. Smiling. "If I could just infect everything around me without having any contact with it, then I would have killed you all down at the meeting. I do at least need you to inhale something. At least. And even then my influence is very limited if I don't get any direct contact."

"Then how?" Akame asked. Talking with him in order to divert his attention while she tried to think of a plan.

"Ohh this took a long time." Makeias said and looked around. "I have touched every single plant in this entire room already. I worked as efficiently as I could, but it still took almost two hours."

"Two hours... So this was the reason for your delay to the meeting then?" Akame said bitterly.

"Well, apologies again for that." Makeias said and made a mocking bow.

All the emotion drained from Akame's face as she suddenly reached a realization. "Who was it?" she asked emptily.

"Who what?" Makeias asked as he straightened up.

"Who betrayed me? You should have had no idea of where this room was. And even if you did, you shouldn't have known how to get in here without us noticing it. And even just that is based on the fact that you knew that we would try to kill you if the negotiations failed."

"I was actually afraid that you would guess that something was up when my bodyguards and lieutenants didn't follow after me when I fled into the tunnels."

"Who sold us out?" Akame asked determinately.

Makeias just smiled at her for some moments but then he shrugged. "I thought you would have guessed by now. I mean, the first time you and I met was when I was holding a secret meeting with them."

"The path of peace..." Akame said silenty.

Makeias nodded. "They actually traded a very important teigu to me during that meeting that you so rudely infiltrated. In exchange for the lives of some of their leaders. A teigu that I now have placed in the capital. A teigu that they stole from the revolutionary army."

"What did you give them to make them stab us in the back?" Akame asked. Anger creeping into her voice. "What did you offer them?"

"I offered them a future." Makeias answered coldly. His smile lessening slightly. "They have been stuck with the sinking ship that the revolutionary army is for quite some time now. Only staying because of loyalty. Even if they knew that it meant their end."

"So they choose to save themselves by betraying all their friends?" Akame said. Looking at the grass as the green was starting to turn darker all around her.

"Loyalty doesn't mean that much when it only leads to more suffering." Makeias said. "They just figured that the world would be a better place without the empire. And supporting me will be the best way for them to accomplish that."

Akame started to crouch down slightly. Getting ready to move. Makeias only smiled at her. "It's no use." he said and crushed the black leaf in his hand. When he did, it squirted thick black liquid in all drirections. Looking like oil. "If you take one step on that grass, or if one of these leaves hit you, it is over. Even if you cut down all the leaves in you path, the liquid of Morbus will splash over you. They are filled with it by now."

Akame quickly looked around. Makeias was standing almost fifteen meters from her. She could make that jump without too much of an effort. The problem was that the air around him was filled with falling leaves. And even if she got close, she would have no place to land. Makeias would probably block the first attack or just back off. And if the grass would splash up in the same way as the leaf had if she stepped on it, then she would get it on her. She had no way to get close.

She moved her head around. Some of the trees behind her and on her side had also started to shed black leaves. And all around her, the vegetation was turning darker and darker with every passing second.

"Well, this is it for our small talk, Akame." Makeias said and dropped the remains of the leaf he was holding. "It took a lot of preparations and work, but with this, I have defeated you."

"Coward." Akame tried to provoke but it only made Makeias smile more.

"Did you honestly believe that I would risk a close combat fight with you? That would just be madness." he said. "You are faster than me and your skills and instincts are superb. There are few that can match your sword and I certainly ain't one of them. But in the end, a sword is just a sword. Even if it might kill everything it touches."

Makeias raised his arms up. Gesturing towards the blackening garden around them. "Just a sword will not stop the inevitable. All of us will wither, sooner or later. That is the cruel dictations of time. And time is Morbus greatest ally. No creature of flesh can stop it's own demise. We will all detoriate. We all have to face our end sooner or later. And now the time has come for you to meet yours."

With those words, Makeias started to turn around.

"Wait!" Akame shouted but she didn't move. Still unsure of where her best chances lay.

Makeias looked at her over his shoulder. "Don't struggle when it reaches you. It will be mostly painless. I will come back later and get Murasame. I will need it in the future. It is one of the few things that can easily kill me at this point."

Akame looked around but most of her envoirment was starting to show it's corruption.

Makeias walked over and opened the black and gooey door. Looking at her as he did. His expression serious once again. "When you die, you can do so knowing that the rule of Esdese and the prime minister will soon fall. That I can promise you. Hopefully you can draw some small consolation from that."

"This isn't over, pillager!" Akame shouted as Makeias closed the door behind him.

"Farewell, Akame of night raid."

* * *

Esdese noticed it immediately when she walked into her chambers.

She had been reading through a report as she walked through the palace. Not really paying much attention to her surroundings. Her instincts always warning her if something was up. However, the moment she passed through the doors to her rooms, she immediately noticed it.

Her head immediately rose from the papers. Her eyes widening slightly. She dropped the papers and bolted through her apartment. Entering his chamber less than two seconds after her arrival to her quarters. She stopped when she had slammed the door open. Immediately halting herself in the doorway.

"No!" she hissed loudly.

Her eyes scanned the room but there was nothing more to take in than what the initial glance gave her.

The room was empty. With a large hole in the bars. Incursio gone from it's pedestal.

She stood still there for some seconds before she briskly walked into his cell through the hole. She stopped when she had walked to the middle of it. Her head moving around, searching for an explanation of where he had gone or of what might have happened. Her heart was beating fast and strong. And while the ice queen had never experienced panic, this was pretty close to it.

She's remained still there, in the middle of the cell for a while. Her eyes moving back and forth. Her breathing hard and fast. For some few moments at a loss of what to do.

She crouched down and looked in under his bed and then walked over to the bathroom and checked that he wasn't in there. She had already been able to tell but she needed to check anyway. She walked back into the middle of his cell again. Breathing deeply. Trying to pick up his scent or some sort of trace of where he had gone. But it was of little help. Everything in the room smelled of him. She could not pick up a trail.

For some reason her instincts attracted her to the single table in his cell. The table was packed with books and papers. When she walked up to it. Her attention was immediately grabbed by a single paper. The sheet empty with the exception of a single message. Scrawled down in a messy handwriting that she would recognize in any situation. She picked up the note and quickly read through the short message.

"No!" she said again when she had read it. More loudly this time. Her voice partly anger and partly desperation. She wouldn't accept this. Esdese closed her hand, scrumpling the paper in it. Then she threw it down on the table and spun around. She exited the room in a single leap. Destroying the wooden door that obstructed her path.

"TATSUMI!" she roared loudly as she left his room. Her voice threatening. Loud enough for most people in the rooms around her to hear it.

But no answer came.

She clenched her teeth. Her face filled with anger. She moved out of her apartment with such furiosity that the doors leading into them, and the walls around them, were blown to pieces as she moved through them. Making the guards in the corridor outside either fall over or start running away when they saw it was her. Either afraid of her or thinking that whatever fight she was having was beyond them.

"TATSUMI!" she roared yet again. Her angry voice demanding that he revealed himself and returned to her immediately.

And no answer came.

She sniffed the air deeply. She detected a small whiff off his smell. Now so faint that it might just be her own mind playing tricks on her. But she had nothing else to go on so she immediately launched herself down the corridor. Following his smell as she accelerated to a higher speed. She blew through yet another door and wall. Sending debris and dust into the room she entered. Along with parts of the destroyed furniture that had been lined up against the walls.

She quickly looked around. The room was another long corridor. Stretching out in both direction. But it was completely empty and she couldn't feel his smell in any of the directions. There was a single window open in front of her. She didn't hesitate.

She jumped out of the window. Descending down some levels. A rooftop of one of the lower levels spreading out under her. The level that she was heading down towards was still about a hundred meters above the ground level. There was a single window on that roof. And it was open.

Esdese kicked downwards on the floor as she landed on it. Destroying it. Making it fall down with her. Landing in the room under it.

It was a big dining hall. Mostly empty. The few attendants that were there immediately starting to leave as quickly as they could as Esdese rose up from the rubble that had been the roof. Some tables and chairs crushed under it.

"Where are you?" she called out.

Yet no answer came.

She stood there for some moments. Not willing to face the fact she already knew. She couldn't smell him. She couldn't detect any trace of him. He was gone. She had lost him.

She remained still for some moments and then kicked a long table that stood beside her in frustration. Sending it flying through the room. Smashing down other chairs and tables as it went.

"Tatsumi!" she shouted and sent a barrage of ice through the room. Destroying all it's windows. She quickly moved up to one of them. Overlooking the capital. She filled her lungs with air.

"TATSUMIIIIIII!" she shouted as loudly as she could. Her booming voice echoed out over the capital and the rooftops until it slowly died out.

And no answer came.

She stood there for a little while. Her eyes widening as her heart started to give in to the realization.

She slowly stumbled backwards. Slowly turning around into the room. Stunned by the thought that her loving days with Tatsumi were over. That the final day in the happiest part of her life had already passed.

She took a couple of slow steps back towards the center of the room. Her expression shocked. Then in a single swift motion, she drew her sword and cut the closest piece of furniture in half. And then the next one. And then the one after that. She swung and swung. Her movements so fast that most could not even see them. Swiftly destroying the entire room around her.

She didn't understand it.

She didn't understand how this had come to pass. How had he escaped? And how had she failed? Why hadn't things worked out? She had done every sweet and kind thing she could think of for him. Giving him as much as she could without becoming a traitor to those who trusted her. Why had she failed to win his heart? Why had she lost his love?

She continued to demolish the room as her thoughts raced. Cutting apart and crushing anything in it in her pained and panicked rage.

She had given him her undying affection. She had tried to be hard and strict with him. She had tried to be controlling and protective. She had tried everything she knew of. She had tried to learn new things to win him back. Why had nothing worked?

She didn't understand where she had gone wrong.

She didn't understand why it had to end already.

She didn't understand the warm wetness that trailed down her cheeks.

She drove down her sword into the floor of the destroyed room. She grabbed it with both her hands as she slowly fell down on her knees. Her head bent forward.

"...Tatsumi?" she asked silently. Her voice quivering in pain and sadness. Experiencing how her heart broke.

And no answer came.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**There you go. The first out of the four shorter chapters that will resolve the end of this arc. Hopefully it isn't filled with too many typos. I didn't have time to reread this as much as I usually do.**

**If any of you EsdesexTatsumi shippers feel like abandoning this story because of how things have turned out, then I would implore you to go back and read the foreword that I wrote back in the prologue. It still stands true.**

**Christmas is really taking up a lot of my time. I plan to have one more chapter out before the 24th but I am a bit sceptical. We live in hope.**

**So it is now revealed that it was Spectator that Makeais traded with The path of Peace. In return for the information that his men stole from the imperial archives back when Tatsumi met them on the night that he burned it. ****That subplot wasn't really that subtle but it has been going on since chapter 6 so it might have been hard to keep track on it.**

**And goddammit. I kind commenter pointed out to me that differently isn't spelled diffrently. I hate it when this happens. Since that is not a typo, I genuinly thought the word was spelled like that. So unlike a typo, which I could just go back and fix, this misspelling runs through this entire story. And as I think you can guess, I don't have the times to go all the way back to chapter 1 and start correcting it. That would probably delay the next chapter with a month or two. So now this misspelling is just a part of the story. Hopefully it doesn't turn too many people away from it.**

**As always, thanks a lot for reading and commenting/reviewing. Always appreciate it.**

**Take care of each other.**


	35. When the unplanned trumps the planned

**Edit: Sorry my friends. There is going to be a short delay. The next chapter will be released today(24/1) or tomorrow(****25/1)****. Sorry.**

* * *

**When the unplanned trumps the planned.**

The fight between the two large groups had moved into one of the tunnels that connected to the negotiation room where the combat had begun. What began as a corridor had slowly turned into something looking more like a large mining tunnel. The walls and ceiling made by earth and stone. Held up by large wooden beams that stood along the walls.

Makeias' forces were very slowly withdrawing backwards as the fight raged on. Slowly pulling back from the warriors of the revolutionary army. Not yet turning into a full retreat. Figthing as they moved backwards.

Wave, Tom-Tom and Liza were in the front line of their side. Helping to keep the situation stable.

They were by far more powerful than most of their opponents but they were still being pushed back by the sheer number of the opposing force. The reinforcements of the revolutionary army far outnumbering any small reinforcements they had. Causing them to slowly fall back. The opponents greater numbers not allowing them to make a full retreat.

And there was always the question of the two night raid members that were hiding in the opposing force. Every now and then they darted out from the attackers when an opening presented itself. Their side's superiority in this battle allowing them to play it a bit safer and stay in the background until the opportunities appeared.

And it was working. Fatigue and the constant pressure were causing Wave and his friends to become more and more sloppy.

Wave kicked a woman that was attacking him with a spear in the stomach. Sending her flying backwards. But the line of enemies were so close to him that before he had even finished the kick, a new attacker was on him. Hitting him over the shoulder with a long halberd.

The sharp clang of metal hitting metal ran through Wave's head, and while the attack had failed to pierce his teigu's armor, the pain was still nothing to sneeze at.

"Son of a bitch!" Wave roared and grabbed the man's arm.

He then swung around while keeping his strong grip. Spinning around with the man swinging around in his grip. Wave moving as if he was going to throw a discus. His steps taking him into the enemy group. Knocking away dozens of enemy soldiers with the man he was holding as he spun around. Until he finally let go off the man. Sending him flying further into the enemy group. Knocking over ten more soldiers. Most bones in the man's body broken.

But Wave's attack had taken him into the enemy group and now he was unprotected. He had barely started to regain his balance before Leone suddenly dashed out from between some of the soldiers on his left side.

Wave managed to catch her fist in his hand but he had neither the strength to stop her punch or the proper stance to stand his ground. His own hand was pushed along with her fist as it hit him in the chest.

The hit strong enough to send him flying back into his own group. Knocking over several people in it before he finally came to a halt. Rolling over on the ground a couple of times.

The soldiers on his side were quick to fill up the hole that was created by him flying into them. The struggle immediately resuming.

Wave grabbed his dizzy head with a hand as he started to sit up. He noticed a large shadow suddenly falling over him.

"Are you okay, little Wave?" Tom-Tom asked in a deep and troubled voice as he crouched down beside him. When he crouched, the old man was still almost as tall as Wave was when he was standing.

Wave shook his head violently for some moments. Trying to regain some focus. "Yeah. Just a bit dizzy. Any sign of Makeias yet?" he asked. The fighting continuing fifteen meters in front of them.

"Not yet. Neither he or Kurome have returned yet." Tom-Tom said. Slowly standing up as Wave himself got on his feet.

"Shouldn't they be here by now?" the younger man asked as he looked at the fighting.

"Probably. But their absence doesn't have to mean anything yet. They are not that late." Tom-Tom said. He reached up with his elbow in the air and after some moments the owl teigu, Noctuaz came down and landed on it. The big bird returning to him as soon as he moved away from the battle.

Wave nodded. "We might have to think of a way to retreat on our own if this continues"

"Yeah. Our chances only seem to get slimmer and slimmer." Tom-Tom said. "I don't think we can wait for the general to return much longer."

With a silent "swosh" Liza landed beside them. One of her legs crouched down and the other straightened out to her side as she glided the last meters towards them.

"Excuse me, but we are fighting a battle here. Haven't you noticed?" she barked angrily at them. She was bleeding from her temple and was breathing heavily. Her hands and feet were covered in blod.

Her fighting style was furious and unrefined. Liza rarely bothering herself with pacing. As such, she had caused some terrifying attacks. Tearing her way through enemy soldiers at a faster pace than any of them. Dealing a great blow to the opposing group's moral. But fatigue was making itself known. Even to her. Causing her to become more careless in her fighting style. Which had resulted in her receiving a punch to the head. And while her strength and speed was inhumane, her endurance was nothing special. So that single hit was nothing she could laugh about. The single normal punch being enough to make her stumble for some moments.

"The front line will not hold without the two of you." she said loudly. "You need to return immediately."

"We know, Liza." Tom-Tom said. "But just fighting without a purpose will lead to our demise right now, Liza. We need to decide on a plan."

"Whatever you need to decide on, you need to do it fast. Because th-" was all Liza had time to say before she turned her head to the battle again. Her instincts warning her of the incoming attack.

She had barely turned her head in that direction before a a small cloud of projectiles were hurled from behind the line of warriors of the revolutionary army. A mix of arrows, spears, shurikens and throwing knifes. All shot and thrown in unison.

It only took a second for the projectiles to descend upon them.

Wave jumped up in the air. Meeting the projectiles head on. Deflecting and knocking down as many of them as possible. Liza caught the one spear that was heading for her head with a hand and Tom-Tom simply swiped away all the attacks that were coming for him with a single gesture with his staff. But even so, the projectiles were many and when Wave landed, most of those standing around the three of them were lying dead on the ground. Leaving the two rows in the front without support for some moments. As the warriors behind the three of them rushed to fill in the created gap.

Tom-Tom's quick deflective movement caused the teigu on his shoulder fly away a little bit. Landing on Liza just after she had thrown the spear back at the other side. Wave landed beside Tom-Tom.

"We will have to decide fast." he said. "We are approaching a breaking point."

"Agreed. We should join the front lines for a little while longer. We will take a decision as soon as-". This time it was Tom-Tom who interrupted himself. As a soft and mellow wave of energy hit him from the side. It felt like a deep humming echoed through his body. Tuneless but still containing feelings. Feelings of calmness and peace. Wave could feel it as well.

They both turned their head to it's source in unison. Both looking at Liza. The owl on her shoulder almost thrice as big as her head.

The little girl's eyes were unfocused. Her arms hanging on her sides. She was swaying back and forth. Looking like she was about to fall over.

"Liza?" Tom-Tom said and moved over to her. Wave following him. "Is everything alright?"

The girl didn't answer as Tom-Tom crouched down in front of her. He put a hand on her shoulder. "Can you hear me, Liza? What is happening?" He lightly shook her shoulder as Wave walked up to her side. He was about to ask her again when he froze. His gaze had wandered over her appearance. Searching for what was happening and finally his eyes had landed on the owl. Discovering the most important clue.

Noctuaz had closed it's eyes.

Tom-Tom felt his jaw drop slightly.

"What is going on?" Wave asked. "Tom-Tom? We need to return to the battle."

"It is synchronizing..." Tom-Tom said silently. "Look at her eyes, Wave."

Wave immediately saw what Tom-Tom was referring to. Even if it was faint, Liza's brown eyes were turning darker. Her brown pupils slowly turning black. "What is going on?"

"They have found compatibility." Tom-Tom said and slowly rose up. His mind reeling in suprise.

He had been wrong. They had tested Noctuaz for years after Makeias had recieved it. They had tried to make it work with thousands and thousands of people. Desperate to try to harness the unimaginable power that a full synchronization with the teigu would give them. But in the end, their results had been insignificant. At best they had managed to make the bird talk to a few people. And when it did, it only spoke gibberish.

In the end they had given up. Not only because of their own failures but also because they knew that the empire must have been trying to make that teigu work for decades, if not more. They would never have sent them the teigu if there was even the slightest chance that it would work. So Tom-Tom had decided that the teigu actually was dysfunctional. But now he realized that he had been wrong.

The teigu had never been broken. It had always been working. It had just never found it's way to someone who was compatible with it. Through all the ages. But now it had. Through mere chance.

Noctuaz, the all-knowing sleeper, had finally awoken. It's endless wisdom being transferred to Liza. Knowledge about all that had ever been, was or could be.

Wave didn't know anything about just how significant Noctuaz power was. He knew nothing of it's omnipotent knowledge. But he knew about teigu synchronization. He knew how badly teigu synchronization could go if it failed. He had seen peolpe who had gone crazy or had gotten heartattacks simply because they weren't compatible with the ancient weapons but still tried to use them.

And Liza's current state did not look like a success to him.

"It looks like it is frying her mind! We should take it off immediately." Wave said and reached towards the owl. But Tom-Tom stopped him by putting his staff on Wave's hand.

"No. Let her take it. She can handle it." the old man said. His expression stern as his eyes remained on Liza.

"Are you crazy?" Wave shouted and gestured towards Liza. Her eyes were slowly moving up behind her eyelids and a trail of drool was moving down her cheek from her mouth. "It is turning her into a vegetable."

"Liza is strong. She can handle it." Tom-Tom assured. Even if his face showed worry.

Wave was suprised to hear that. "Have you no regards for her safety?"

"Wave!" Tom-Tom said. His voice harder as his staff moved up and placed itself on the young man's chest. "I regard this girl and her brother as my own children. They mean far more to me than they will ever do to you. Now let her weather this. Trust in her."

Wave hesitated for a moment but then lowered his arm and nodded. "Fine, but she is in no condition to fight like this. She needs to be evacuated."

The old man nodded. "Liza is now more valuable than any of us. We must move into a full retreat. And you must escape with her to Makeias."

"We will not get far if we all fall back." Wave objected. "We can probably assume that they are just as fast as us. They will slaughter us as we flee."

Tom-Tom put a giant hand on Wave's shoulder and smiled at him. "Not everyone will retreat."

That stopped Wave in his tracks. He looked up at the old giant. "Are you serious?"

"If she gets to safety, then Makeias can not lose anymore. If you get her to safety, then the rule of the prime minister and Esdese will end. Without fail."

"There might be other ways than this. All of us might be able to disengage from this fight together." Wave protested.

"Are you willing to take that risk?" Tom-Tom asked and gave Wave a kind look. "We have been given a chance here, Wave. A chance for peace. True peace. We can not allow any risks."

They looked at each other for some long seconds. When Wave didn't say anything, Tom-Tom added "I have lived long enough, little Wave."

That made anger flare up in the younger man's eyes. "That is not the truth and you know it. You're just submitting to the cruelty of our situation."

That actually made Tom-Tom chuckle lightly. "But the situation isn't that cruel for me, little Wave." he said. Causing Wave's eyebrows to rise slightly. "I am very old. And I can not think of a better way to go, then to be able to give my life to secure peace for the coming generations."

Wave's face grew bitter. "Damn you."

Tom-Tom only chuckled again. "I believe the words that Makeias uses are "Don't hate the player. Hate the game.""

Wave opened his mouth to say something but halted himself and closed it again. Tom-Tom simply patted his shoulder. "Go. Before Liza recovers from the synchronization. Then she will refuse to leave."

Wave clenched his teeth. "I will stay with you. The others can escort Liza out. You don't deserve to go out alone."

"Would you leave Kurome behind then?" Tom-Tom asked in a friendly tone. Once again making Wave halt himself. "I have loved, I have laughed and I have lived, Wave. Now go!"

Wave looked at him for some seconds. Then, without a word, he grabbed Liza's hand and ran away through the crowd. Liza stumbling after him. Tom-Tom looked at him as he ran away for some moments. "Goodbye, little Wave."

It took almost two minutes after that before Liza regained her consciousness fully. It was the sharp whistle that signaled a full retreat for Makeias' warriors that brought her out of her haze. Finally being able to focus on something again. Even if the weight of Noctuaz's knowledge still strained her mind to an extreme degree. She still felt very confused.

But when her eyes finally focused again, the line between pupils and whites were gone. They were now exactly the same as the big owl that sat on her shoulder. Completely black, with small white spots shining in them. Looking like a starry night sky.

She quickly took in the situation all around her. She was running through the large tunnel. People all around her running as well. It took her some heartbeats to realize that someone was holding her hand. Leading her on. She looked up and saw that Wave, fully equipped with grande chariot, was holding her hand. Running through the crowd while guiding her.

The entire group had started to retreat in unison. Everyone abandoning the combat. All turning on their heels and starting to sprint. Eveyone leaving on their side of the battle when the whistle was blown. Only leaving a single figure standing. And even without hearing or seeing it, Liza knew who it was. She knew everything.

"No!" she said and drove her heels down into the ground.

Wave didn't hesitate for a second. He immediately turned around and scooped up her legs. Lifting her up with a hand behind her back and legs. "Please don't struggle now Liza." he almost shouted as he started running.

"Tom-Tom is staying behind." she shouted.

"He can handle himself." Wave said. Trying to sound calmer than he was.

"You've got to be joking." Liza said and started to squirm in his grip.

"Understand your own worth in this situation!" Wave shouted. Anger coloring his voice. "Understand why Tom-Tom is doing this. Understand why it is necessary."

"I don't want him to do this." Liza shouted back and started to struggle even more.

"Do you honestly think that this is about what you want? Grow the fuck up!"

That actually stopped Liza. She tried to think of something. She knew how this would end. She should be able to tell if there was a better way. But she had a hard time finding the answer. Her head was so full. It was very hard to fousing on any singular part of her thoughts and knowledge. She grabbed her head with both her hands as she tried to think about the situation. She should be able to tell what to do here.

As soon as it became clear to those fleeing that Tom-Tom was remaining behind, the long and slim warriors from his own tribe immediately turned around and moved back towards him. His closest warriors returning to him as fast as they could.

Tom-Tom noticed it without looking back at them. Focusing on those quickly approaching him from the front. Having already knocked out the warriors that had served as his initial opponents. But many more were now approaching him. Since he was the only one still standing in their way. The tunnel still a little bit too narrow for people to be able to run around him with safety. Since he was so fast.

"Cut down the beams!" he shouted when his men got close. They immediately scattered in diffrent directions. Racing towards the large wooden beams by the walls. The pillars that made the tunnel steady.

As soon as they reached them, they started to hit the wooden structures that held up the roof with their thin swords. But it was not going fast. Their battle proficiency coming from their speed. Not their strength. Their hits did not cut deep into the wooden pillars. After some moments, some of their swords broke. The thin blades not meant to break through this kind of resistance. As soon as that happened, those with broken weapons started to throw themselves against the pillars. Violently tackling them. Damaging themselves more than the wood.

Meanwhile the opposing group had reached Tom-Tom in earnest. Several warriors attacking him at once. But he was still fast enough. He hit the one closest to him with his staff. Knocking the man out with a hit to the head as he avoided the attack of the next warrior. After that he crouched down in a spinning motion. Using the length of his staff to swipe away the feets of all those coming at him from diffrent directions.

He started to straighten up as his spin came to an end. Ending up facing the opposing group again. And there she was. Leone. Flying straight at him.

He managed to get his staff up in order to block her punsh as she came towards him. But she was too strong. Usually he would have tried to move away from her attack instead of blocking it. But Leone had been waiting behind the warriors he had just swiped down. Striking as he was recovering from that move. He did not have time to move out of the way.

His staff broke under her strong fist. Splintering into many pieces as her fist went through it. Hitting Tom-Tom straight in the chest. Sending him flying backwards.

He landed on his back and rolled around a couple of times before he came to a halt. His long grey robes tangled up around him.

He hadn't come to a halt before some of his men immediately left the beams and bolted to his aid. Leaving three of them left to keep working on the beams.

But they didn't manage to get too far before they were bombarded by swift and deadly projectiles. All made out of water. Flying at them from the group behind Leone.

He had stayed hidden but now Isamu had finally made his appearance. Moving out of the group of warriors.

He was in a pretty bad condition from his fight with Kurome. His torso was covered with deep lacerations. His shirt in shreds. His neck still had the wound from when Kurome had pierced it with her sword. But he was still keeping it together. Using Black Marlin to prevent his blood from flowing out. Keeping himself on his feet and even being able to perform successful attacks. Even if he himself was suprised that he actually managed to hit his intended targets.

Back in Garu, he and Leone had been fighting Tom-Tom's warriors and during that fight, they had had a hard time even landing the most basic of attacks. Their opponents evasion and reflexes so superb that it took them the whole battle to even just kill a few of them.

But things were diffrent this time. Tom-Tom's men were completely focused on getting to their fallen leader. They didn't put much effort into trying to avoid the attacks. Knowing that if they would commit to avoiding Isamu's attacks, they would probably be too slow to get to Tom-Tom in time. Most of them choose to place their hopes in that his projectiles would miss or that the attacks weren't that strong. None of them wanting to slow down. All of them wanting to reach Tom-Tom before Leone did.

But their bodies were not built to withstand these types of attacks. Their bones shattering as their slim bodies were thrown to the side by the teigu's powerful attacks. And when they finally reached Tom-Tom, only two of them remained. Immediately attacking the approaching Leone as Tom-Tom started to rise up on shaky arms.

Fifty meters behind Tom-Tom, in the front of the group that was escaping , Liza clenched her teeth. "He is losing the battle. We need to aid him."

Even though Liza couldn't see it, because of grande chariot, Wave's teeth clenched in a pained expression. "This was his wish. Let him have this honor."

"To hell with his honor. He is going to die!" Liza screamed.

"This was his choice!" Wave shouted back without looking down at her. "Besides, we don't know. He might make it through this."

But Liza knew. She knew what was going to happen if they left now. And she could not accept it. Tom-Tom had to survive. If he died here then there was no chance for Jack to make it out alive. She knew this thanks to the power of Noctuaz.

She drew her elbow up, into Wave's jaw. The force of the blow forced the older boy to stumble a bit. His grip momentarily weakened during this and when it did, Liza wriggled free. Her feet had barely touched ground before she bolted off. Back towards Tom-Tom. Noctuaz leaving her shoulder momentarily as she started to accelarate. Flying up to the ceiling.

"Dammit!" Wave screamed and threw himself after her but he was off balance due to her hit and his finger only managed to grace one of her heels before he landed on the ground and she was out of his reach. "Stop!"

Liza already knew what this would mean. She knew that this was the only way now. She felt the fear and pain rise inside her. She felt remorse that she wasn't stronger. That her body wasn't large enough. She felt sorrow, since she already knew how this was going to end. But she pressed it down with her unwavering determination. She was only eleven years old but she had done so many horrible things already. If there was just one thing she could make right with her life then it needed to be this.

She would not fail her little brother.

That was the one thing she couldn't back down from. The only thing she really had left. And she would never let go off that.

Tom-Tom believed that his time had come to give his old life for the young generation. And while he thought it was a good way to go, Liza wouldn't allow it. Jack needed to survive all of this. And Jack would need Tom-Tom to do so.

She quickly closed in on the battle. Noticing how Tom-Tom's men finally started to get through the wooden beams. Making them fall down. One by one. She knew that she didn't have much time now. The tunnel was soon going to collapse.

None of those fighting noticed her approach. Both were too focused on each other.

Leone had, with the help of Isamu, managed to kill the two men that had jumped in to help Tom-Tom. The warriors not able to fully use their evasion since they didn't want to move out of her way. Now she and Isamu were trying to finish the old man off. But it was easier said than done.

Tom-Tom had managed to get up on one knee. Holding the remains of his staff in one hand and using the other for hand-to-hand combat.

Leone knew that she needed to get this done quickly. Since they had vowed to not let Makeias' forces escape. But Tom-Tom was still extremly fast. She had gotten a good hit on him since he had been unprepared. But now she had his full attention. And Leone's knew, both from instinct and from experience, that a fighter that is backed up into a corner, will be all the more desperate and all the more vicious.

Attacking him head on might be very dangerous right now. Considering how much faster he was than her. Even if she knew that she had broken some of his ribs.

But she had an idea. They would utilize the same strategy as they had back in Garu. They would time up their attacks.

She would coordinate her attack with one of Isamu's stronger ones. If she could attack just before Isamu's projectiles would hit Tom-Tom then she would force him to choose one thing to defend against. And the other one would finish him.

However, Liza knew Leone's stratetgy. And she knew how she would counter it.

Soone enough, Isamu mustered all the strength he had left in him and shot away three coiling projectiles towards Tom-Tom. His strongest attack yet. As soon as he did Leone jumped towards Tom-Tom from the other side. Directing a powerful kick at him. Tom-Tom turned towards the approaching Leone. Well aware that this was probably it for him. Thinking that the timing was good. Since the tunnel was just starting to collapse all around them.

But as he was about to bring up what was left of his broken staff, Liza passed under his arm.

She was leaping to the side of the fight. Not really looking at Leone and Isamu. She already knew exactly where they were. She knew exactly how she should move to make this work.

When she had moved a little bit to the side, she jumped back towards Leone. Intercepting her from the side. Spinning around as she did. Not needing to look to know where she should aim.

Liza kicked the leg that Leone had directed towards Tom-Tom when she reached her. Leone could do little to avoid it since she was midair. The kick setting her off course. Sending Leone flying in a direction a bit to the side of her intended target. And then Liza just let her momentum do the rest.

Tom-Tom's eyes widened in panick as he watched how Liza's body was slowed down by her collison with Leone. Her momentum putting her between him and Isamu's projectiles. Her back turned against him.

"NOOOOOOO!" Tom-Tom screamed in pain and horror as Isamu's projectiles hit Liza. Crushing her chest in and sending her flying backwards. Right into his arms. Causing them both to fly backwards as the ceiling collapsed all around them.

When the ceiling fell down it blew dust and sand in all directions. Taking the sight from all those around it. Making Wave momentarily blind as he rushed towards where the collapse was happening.

When he finally found them, the old giant was on his knees amongst the debris. Bent forward. Sobbing loudly as he held the body of the broken little girl to his chest. His grey clothes and beard red with her lifeblood.

* * *

The fight between Tatsumi and Dorothea had escalated quickly.

The combat had moved them through the long corridor that they had met in. The battle between them leaving the room around them in ruins. Luckily for Tatsumi, most of this level of the palace had been evacuated for the meeting. So he didn't have to worry about Dorothea getting reinforcements for a little while. Even if he knew that his time was limited. Sooner or later someone would notice. He didn't have much time.

Yet the fight was not really going in his favour. He had been suprised to find how powerful his opponent was. He had believed that he might be able to kill her without fully activating Incursio but now he was fairly sure that he would need it in order to finish this. But he needed the right timing. The fight needed to end as soon as he activated it. Because the moment he did, anyone with decent perceptive instincts in the palace would notice it.

He swung down at the advancing Dorothea but she had gotten a bit to close. She managed to reach out with an arm and grab the handle of the spear. Stopping the attack in it's track. Her strength much greater that his at this stage. Tatsumi made a move to kick her away but before he could complete the move, Dorothea swung around. Still holding his spear. And since Tatsumi was unwilling to let go off his weapon, he was flung around with it.

Dorothea spun around and threw him and his spear in the opposite direction. Tatsumi's back hitting one of the walls. He had been suprised by Dorothea's strength when the fighting had begun and he was still adapting to it. But it was hard since the corridor didn't offer much in terms of area to move around in. Their fight had been very close and personal.

He started to rise up but Dorothea moved towards him quickly. He threw his spear in her direction as she approached. But she managed to avoid it. Even if just barely. The spear cutting away some hairs from her head as it passed by her. But now he was unarmed. Having no choice but to engage her in her own specialized field.

He managed to rise up a bit before he had to block her first strike. Using his elbow to ward off her punch. After that their fight turned into a brawl.

Tatsumi was a little bit faster than Dorothea but she was so much stronger than him. Every now and then they managed to hit each other but Tatsumi was clearly the one taking the most damage. Parts of Incursio being chipped of with each hit.

Tatsumi had started to realize that this situation was very unfavourable for him but he couldn't manage to get away. Dorothea was pressing him against the wall with her offensive.

Soon enough he started to lose his energy. After a little while he failed to block a vicious jab at his face and took it head on. Being sent to the side by the force of it. Falling down on the floor.

Dorothea smiled at him. Catching her breath for a second. "Well, I won't say that this was disappointing but I certainly expected you to be more powerful. Everyone assumed that you had some monstrous powers hidden since Esdese always favours you so." she said as she walked up to Tatsumi. He himself turning over towards her on the floor. He only stared at her.

"I won't even have to use any of my tricks to defeat you." she said and wiped of the sweat from her forehead. "But just beating the crap out of you like this isn't all that bad. It gets the blood going."

She kicked against him but he managed to throw himself to the side, avoiding her foot. But as soon as he was starting to get up, he had to block another hit from one of her fists. But even with both his hands, the hit was too strong for him. Causing him to fall back down on the ground.

"Not even Esdese can punish me if I kill you in self-defence." she called out loudly and kicked him in the side. Causing Tatsumi to roll over a couple of times. Ending up on his stomach. Unmoving.

Dorothea slowly walked towards him. "You know, I must say that our meeting down in the dungeons left me a bit... dissatisfied. But now.." she said and bent down towards him. ".. now I can continue from where I was before Esdese interrupted me."

Tatsumi started to rise up but her hand grabbed his neck and pushed it down to the floor.

"Ever since I tasted you blood, I have not been able to forget it. The taste and power of it. The potential." she put down a knee on his back as she bent down over him. Her small frame holding him down.

She chuckled lightly. "After all the trouble and struggles that the great general has made me face, it will be so rewarding to deliver the dried up husk of your body to her. I wonder how she will react? Will she be sad? Or will she just shrug and move on with her day?"

Tatsumi tried to struggle but her other hand came down and grabbed his shoulder.

"Ohh don't worry." she said silently as she closed in on him. "It won't even hurt much. I think."

She pressed him down against the floor. Tatsumi had no idea of how she planned to get through the armour with her teeth but she probably had a plan. He could not risk it. He only had one option now.

"Thanks for the meal." Dorothea said as she opened her mouth and moved her head towards his neck.

But as her lips were about to land on the cold armour, Tatsumi called upon the power resting inside of him. He called upon Incursio to grant him all it's strength once again. And Incursio responded.

The blast of power caused by his transformation pushed Dorothea from him. She flew a meter up into the air as the strong wind and dust blew against her. But before she could fly further away, Tatsumi's attack hit her. His big spear slicing her horizontally across her chest. The weapon reappearing in it's new form in his hand when he transformed.

It was a quick and silent slash. His blade went between two of her ribs. The only bone it had to cut through was the one connecting her ribs in the front. Yet when the silent slash was done and his blade exited the other side of her chest, Dorothea's lungs were almost completely ruined. The wound cutting through half her chest from the front. Leaving a deep horizontal gash in her clothes and flesh.

The loud and brutal fight had ended in a silent and almost graceful stroke.

With a silent thump, Dorothea landed on her back. Only two meters from where Tatsumi had risen up.

She gasped, trying to speak, but only blood came out of her mouth. The only sound she made a gurgle.

Tatsumi turned to her, now standing up. Wearing the fully evolved form of Incursio. He looked down at her and nodded mockingly. "Yeah, that sounds very interesting. But I am in kind of a hurry now. You will have to excuse me." he said and turned around. He looked at her over his shoulder. He considered finishing her off. But he didn't have the time.

A part of him suspected that his opponent might not be truly defeated. But his purpose had never been to kill her. Just to get past her. He knew that Dorothea was the kind of person that kept many tricks up her sleeve. If he would go in for the kill then she might utilize some hidden ploy to get back up.

He didn't want to engage in anymore fighting right now. His path was clear. He had to get to the prime minister. Now.

He dashed off. Accelerating down the corridor. Leaving Dorothea there on the floor. He could feel that she remained there as he left. He refocused himself on the path in front of him. For now he was truly against the clock.

He could already feel that general Gallus had started to quickly head for this level now. The general presumably increasing his pace because he had felt Incursio's transformation. He didn't have much time. And even if it was faint, he could tell that someone else had noticed him.

He could feel her presence even now. How her attention turned in his direction. Thankfully, he could tell that she was pretty far away. But he could still feel that she was heading for him now.

Unbeknownst to Tatsumi, his lover had actually been heading down towards the dungeons. Thinking that that would be the first place he would go. To try and save some of his friends. She had been talking to the captain of the dungeon guards when Tatsumi activated Incursio fully. Asking the captain if he had seen Tatsumi when she felt it. All of her instincts starting to scream at her. She suddenly knew exactly where he was. She bolted away mid-sentence. Leaving the room before the captain of the guards could even react.

All of her instincts as a hunter and a fighter completely homing in on that all so familiar feeling as she quickly reached her highest speed. Esdese had located her mate.

* * *

Makeias moved silently through the long tunnels. Avoiding any combat that was going on.

He wanted to get back to Tom-Tom and Wave soon. He needed to aid them. The situation had grown out of hands a bit faster than he had expected.

The path of peace had informed them that night raid would be getting reinforcements almost immediately but Makeias hadn't thought that there would be so many of them. They had prepared for this and had their own reinforcements incoming. But as it looked now, they would have to retreat. The enemy feinforcements were arriving in a greater number than he had expected and faster then they had thought they would.

He needed to get back to the negotiation hall, where he assumed that they still were. He could help even the score slightly. Hopefully giving them a chance to pull back. Until they had reached their own reinforcements. A point of worry for him was of course Murasame. He wanted that teigu. He had intended to go back and take the teigu when he was sure that Akame was dead. But it seemed like he wouldn't have time for that. Now he would have to leave it there.

But it made little diffrence. The garden would remain completely unapproachable for at least a day or two. He was the only one that could enter it now that it had been completely overtaken by the corruption. He intended to take this entire base as soon as they had united with the troops that were on their way. That had always been the plan. He could get the teigu after that.

And they would not only strike at this location.

While none of the members of the revolutionary army in this base knew about it, Makeias' forces had attacked all the remaining hideouts of their organization as the meeting began. He had been informed about all of their locations and defences by the path of peace. If everything went as planned, night raid and the revolutionary army would be no more after this day.

Makeias quickly moved past another doorway. Hearing loud noises from it. He didn't know how far the fighting had spread or if Wave and the others had moved away from the room. He would have to go to where he had left them and find out.

He moved a little bit further after that. Silently running for almost two minutes before he met Kurome.

She came running past a corner, her sword drawn and her breathing quick.

Makeias halted himself as she approached."Ahh hello there, Kurome. Good to see you. Is everything all right?" he asked silently.

Kurome nodded quickly. "Where is Akame?"

"You don't have to worry about that. She has been dealt with." Makeias said and started to walk towards her.

Kurome froze at those words. "Dealt with? What do you mean?"

Makeias gave her a questioning look. "Well, I think you can use your imagination."

Kurome's eyes widened slightly. "Is she dead?"

"She should be by now." Makeias said with a shrug. "Though I am a bit unsure. She might still be struggling with Morbus. But it doesn't matter. She will be dead within a minute or so."

Kurome just stood there and stared at him for some moments. Makeias looked at her. He noticed that something was wrong but he couldn't determine what. "Kurome?" he asked and moved towards her.

When he started to get close. She raised her sword in his direction. Her arm shaking slightly. Makeias stopped immediately.

"Are you sure you want to do that, Kurome?" he asked with a friendly smile. "I know that she was your sister but you were on opposite sides in this battle."

Kurome just stared at him. Holding her sword against him.

"Come on, Kurome." Makeias continued with his kind voice. "This is folly. We are allies in this conflict."

She remained still for ten long seconds. Then she finally lowered her weapon. A dark look on her face. "I should have been there."

Makeias smile got a sadder tone to it as he took the last couple of steps towards her. "I hate it when things doesn't go according to plan. But you know, they rarely do. At least not in every detail. So the only thing you can do is to have a lot of plans. You can have Akame's body later if you wish. I will make it so that people can touch it again."

Kurome simply nodded to him.

"Though I will take the teigu." Makeias continued. "I might come to need it in the future."

Kurome looked like she was going to say something but halted herself in the last moment. Her eyes moving past Makeias face. Looking over his shoulder.

Makeias was unsure if that was the thing that saved him. Or if it was the single footstep he heard behind him. Or the silent sound of cloth flapping in the wind. But whatever it was that set off his instincts, he immediately acted on them.

He threw himself to the side in the last moment. Barely avoiding the stab from behind. His jump was so sudden and desperate that he had no way of catching himself. Landing on his side on the ground. He heard how Kurome gasped after he had landed.

He immediately turned around as he did. Rising himself up on his elbows.

And there stood Akame. Alive and well.

She lacked her coat but otherwise she looked completely fine. Still wearing her mask.

"How..." Makeias said as he slowly stood up. For a moment just looking completely suprised. But when Akame didn't answer him, his usual demeanor immediately returned. "Out of all the people I had hoped to never meet again, you are certainly at the top, Akame." he said and smiled.

"Don't worry." Akame answered in a blank voice. Her serious eyes focused on Makeias. "This will be the last time we meet." she said and slowly raised her sword.

"So you said last time." Makeias said and took his spear from it's fastening on his back. "But this time I hope that you are right."

Kurome stood some meters beside Akame. Her eyes darting back and forth between the pillager and the crimson eyed killer. It was easy to see that she was unsure of what to do.

"How did you escape the garden?" Makeias asked. "I will admit that I was sure that I had defeated you."

Akame slowly moved into a fighting stance. "Your tricks will not save you this time, Makeias." she stated coldly.

"Wanna bet?" Makeias said and smiled. His skin growing paler by the moment.

Even if he was acting calmly, Makeias was well aware of how bad the situation was for him. He had been certain that he had solved the problem that Akame was. He knew that if this was going to be determined by close combat, then he would lose. Akame was an extremely capable fighter and he only had one of his spears. If he had some luck he might be able to create a situation where he could trade a hit for a hit with her.

Usual such a situation was beneficial to him. Since he could rely on his monstrous endurance to make him come out on top in such a scenario. But in this fight, such a trade-off would mean his death.

But he did have one more trick. He looked at Kurome and then back at her sister.

"Maybe you should withdraw, Akame. You are outnumbered." he said and nodded towards Kurome.

Akame cast a quick glance at her sister. "I wouldn't be so certain about that." she said.

Makeias was about to ask what she meant by that but before he could, Akame bolted for him. Forcing him to shoot out gas from his mouth and nose. Hoping to obstruct her vision as Akame charged at him.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**Well... That took longer than I had expected. The few of you that has been with this story since the beginning might remember that I had a similar break during this time last year. And it was for just the same reasons last year. Celebrations, alcohol and exams. Nothing that I really can avoid. But maybe something that I should have been able to forsee.**

**Though I will say that I find it suprising that so many people who have never displayed any deeper interest about this story before suddenly came out and said that they were disappointed in me. I mean... you have never written a word about this story before. Frankly, I didn't even know that you expected anything.**

**...but yeah. I did promise to deliver on certain dates. And failed spectaculary. Sorry about that. Future delays will be more reasonable. Like before.**

**So now we are back on track. We will return to the usual release pace. Which is about three chapters every month. So expect the next one in 10 days.**

**This is the second out of the four chapters that act as a finale for this arc. The focus will now turn more to the capital.**

**The latest chapter of the manga completely overturned my expectations. I was so sure that the manga would go the way of the anime in the coming chapters. Everything had been framed that way. It was a really pleasant suprise. Even if the anime might have spoiled the end of the manga, we don't know that for sure anymore. The tension is back. At least for me. And it does also help that this actually resulted in one of AGK few happy endings. At least for now.**

**And it verified some important issues in regards to Kurome and Wave in Bent but not Broken.**

**As always, thanks a lot for reading. Now the story will continue as planned. Thanks for all the comments/feedback and messages that I have recieved during this long break. And yes, even you who said that you were disappointed. The fact that you care is what keeps me writing.**

**Until next time, take care of each other.**


	36. When decay is king

**We are back to a normal reasonable pace with normal reasonable delays. Reasonable.**

* * *

**When decay is king.**

Even if she couldn't see anything, Akame still managed to press the attack.

She was completely surrounded with the fumes of Morbus that Makeias had exhaled. But she had her mask and she had her instincts. She could still perceive Makeias movements. As long as he stayed in motion.

Makeias didn't dare to remain still and the tunnel they were in was not big enough for him to move outside of Akame's perceptive range. After a little while he jumped backwards, out of the gas. Since it didn't seem to aid him.

He landed some steps beside Kurome. She had her sword drawn but was not moving.

"Could use a little bit of help here!" Makeias said with a smile as he jumped backwards again. Just as Akame herself jumped out of the smoke in front of him.

Makeias weighed his options in his head. He needed to get out of there rather soon. For every second he kept fighting Akame, the bigger the risk of his death became. Just one failed block, one unpredicted move or one slip of his feet and it would be over. He had no safeties at all in this fight. And it scared him greatly. He wasn't used to fighting like this. He usually had some tricks or backup plans he could rely on to save him if things went south. But not this time. He could literally be moments from his death.

His first instinct was to flee but he wasn't sure that was an option right now. If he tried to flee, he needed to create a diversion. Otherwise he would run the risk of being ambushed as he fled. Since he didn't know if Akame had any tricks up her sleeve. Or if he even was fast enough to outrun her in the first place.

Akame landed a few steps away from Kurome as she moved out of the smoke. Yet Kurome didn't move away or prepare for combat in any way. She just stood there. Struggling in an internal conflict.

"Kurome!" Makeias said a bit louder. His tone harder.

This caused Kurome's eyes to move up to his but she still didn't move.

"Did you get lost during your time in night raid's custody?" Makeias asked sharply as he moved backwards. Avoiding Akame's advance. "Have you forgotten where your loyalty lies?"

"She hasn't forgotten." Akame said as she swung against Makeias. The man barely moving out of her range in time. "She has remembered it."

Makeias spun around as he moved backwards. Sending a rain of small black droplets against Akame. Causing her to momentarily stop her advance as she moved out of the way of the attack. Easily dodging it even if it cost her some of her momentum.

"Foolish." Makeias said. A small bit of his stress showing through in his voice. "Have you forgotten why you came to me, Kurome? I have Wave!"

Kurome's eyes widened a little bit at that. Makeias had hit the nail on the head. If the choice was hers, then she would have easily chosen her sister's side in this conflict. But she had come to this point by following Wave. It had been him that she had followed from the start. And she knew that Wave had come to Makeias because he was convinced that Makeias got the best chance at toppling the empire.

She didn't know if she could convince Wave to join Akame at this point. And how would Wave react if she killed his ally. She herself had never considered Makeias a true ally but she knew that Wave did. If she killed the pillager then Wave would be forced to join Akame, but would Wave forgive her if she did so? She wasn't certain and that made her hesitate.

"Kurome." Akame said. Jumping back from Makeias. Momentarily stopping her attack. Her voice kind and gentle when she spoke. "Wave has a good heart doesn't he? He will know what the right thing to do is. He will come with you."

Kurome looked at her sister. A little bit of doubt lingering in her expression. Akame only smiled faintly at her. "Think about who he is, Kurome. I think you already know the answer."

A bit of the doubt disappeared from Kurome's face. Calm determination taking it's place.

Makeias didn't like what he saw one bit. It was going to be a challenge to survive this without Kurome's help in the first place. If she turned against him as well, then he was as good as dead. While it wasn't quite of Murasame's caliber, Yatsufusa was still not an easy opponent for him. The dolls and puppets that the teigu could summon would probably be unaffected by Morbus. Thus robbing him of his usual way of attack.

He would not stand a chance if they both turned against him. He couldn't take anymore risks. Even if it was a bit early, he decided to go for his final solution.

"I see that the eventuality bothers you, Kurome." he said. Raising his hand in her direction. "Allow me to remove the choice for you."

He closed his hand. Activating the infection he had put in her arm, back at the first meeting. Just before she left for the exchange.

Kurome yelled out involuntarily as it awoke in her flesh. Spreading in all directions inside her arm. She dropped Yatsufusa. Falling down on her knees as she grabbed her hurting arm. Morbus starting to easily tear, gnaw and eat it's way through her muscles.

Akame looked at how her sister grabbed her arm in surprise. But after some moments, she could see how the skin on the underside of Kurome's arm started to turn darker. Fast enough to be seen by the naked eye. Kurome bending forward. Holding her arm against her chest.

"Damn you!" she said and looked at Makeias.

Makeias smile was almost apologetic. "I have seen all I need to see. You still value her in some way. So if you don't want her to die here and now, I suggest that you fall back."

Akame scowled at Makeias but then returned her eyes to Kurome. She knew that her sister's physical condition was not the best. She took a lot of medicine and drugs just to stay afloat. Her body and immune system would not be able to put up much of a fight against Morbus. Now that it was already inside of her.

"Curse you and your tricks!" she shouted at Makeias. Momentarily losing her cool.

"Well, I would return with "A pox on your house." but... you know." he said and twisted his fist. Causing Kurome to scream out again. "Fall. Back."

Akame glared at him and then looked back at Kurome. Sweat started to form on her temples. Now the decision was in her hands instead.

She could most definitely assume that Kurome would die if Makeias didn't stop Morbus. She had no way to stop it and nothing that indicated that it would stop, even if she did kill the pillager. She had a simple choice.

Kill Makeias or save Kurome.

Her gaze flickered back and forth between the both of them. Makeias noticed her hesitation.

"Just turn around and move back through the tunnel that you came from." Makeias said as calmly as he could. Trying to sound diplomatic. "No one of us needs to die here today."

"How do I know that she just won't die anyway?" Akame questioned loudly.

"I can't give you any absolute answer." Makeias said. His face serious. "But I need her. Because I need Wave on my side. And I can promise you this: If you continue with your attack now, then at least two people will die here in this room today."

Akame looked back at Kurome again. She knew what she wanted to do. But that was not the same as what she thought that she needed to do. She couldn't allow Makeias to escape her again. Last time it had cost her so much when he had managed to escape her.

She looked at her sister as her own face slowly started to show pain. She needed to stop Makeias. She couldn't fail her predecessor. Her mind was racing for another solution but she could find none. Desperation and panic starting to slip into her mind. She needed to focus and go into fight mode. But she knew that if she did that and focused on Makeias, then she wouldn't be able to think about anything else. Then Kurome would be lost.

She slowly started to reach a decision. Even if it hurt her so much. She reached down and put both her hands on her sword.

She looked at her sister a last time. Akame knew that doing this would break her own heart. She doubted that she would ever be able to feel warmth and joy again. She doubted that she would ever feel love again. She was convinced that after this, she would forever be dead inside. But everybody trusted her to stop Makeias. Everybody had put their lives on the line for this. She couldn't allow her own selfish wishes to stand in the way of the trust that had been put in her.

She smiled faintly at her younger sister. A final goodbye. Then she turned her eyes to the pillager. His smile was gone and his eyes focused on her. Holding his spear up in front of him with one arm and holding the other out in Kurome's direction. She took a deep breath and started to focus energy into her legs.

"Sis!"

She was about to make the leap when her sister's call halted her. She knew that she shouldn't look over at her. Everything would be much harder if she did. Yet she couldn't stop herself. There was a need in that voice. A search for a connection. She didn't have the heart to ignore it. Even if she felt that it would make this more difficult.

She slowly looked over at Kurome. Her sister had managed to straighten up a little bit. There was pain in her eyes but Akame saw something else as well. An urgency that wasn't there before.

With a trembling body, Kurome let go off her hurting arm and reached down into the pocket of her skirt. Bringing up a folded piece of paper. Akame's invitation to her and Wave. The message clearly stating that they would both be welcome to join night raid at any time, if they only abandoned Makeias and his ways.

Kurome held up the paper in front of her. In Akame's direction. Then in a weak and silent voice, she simple said "Trust me.".

She didn't manage to get much strength into her voice but Akame understood both what she said and what she meant. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment.

_I'm sorry, Najenda._

Akame understood that Kurome had chosen a side. And she was asking her to trust that Wave would follow as well. That made Akame take her decision. Makeias had stated that he needed Wave to succeed. Kurome was asking her to leave the death of Makeias to her. She had stated her allegiance.

She didn't know why she was so certain of it but she was. She knew that that was what Kurome meant.

And now the choice was an easy one for Akame. Even if she still didn't like it. Now it stood between sacrificing Kurome in order to kill Makeias and also lose Wave, or she could let Kurome live, get Wave on her side, and possibly have Makeias meet his end either way. Either through Kurome or because Wave's forces left him.

And if Makeias had told her the truth back in the corrupted garden, then all the revolutionary army's camps were currently being attacked by his forces. They would need Wave's reinforcement to survive after that.

Both courses of action carried risks and eventualities. But now Akame knew what she was going to do.

The nod was so small that it was almost hard to see. But Kurome noticed it.

Makeias was unsure of what was going on. He didn't know what the the piece of paper meant or what had just happened here. "Akame." he said in a pressing voice. "The time is ticking. The longer this goes on, the more unnecessary damage is inflicted on Kurome's body."

Akame turned her eyes to Makeias. "Your time will come soon enough, pillager."

Makeias' smile returned as he realized what was going to happen. He shrugged. "Yeah. Probably."

Akame held his gaze for a little while longer. She then spun around and leapt away. And in two seconds, she had moved out of their sight.

Makeias stood there for some moments. Still holding Kurome's life in his grip. Then after a little while, when Akame's presence faded away outside of his perceptive range, he closed his eyes and took a deep sigh. Letting his arm fall down to his side. Making the infection inside of Kurome withdraw. Forcing it to become dormant once more.

Kurome took some deep breaths as the pain subsided. Looking at how the darkness under the skin of her arms stopped spreading and then started to slowly withdraw.

Makeias rolled one of his shoulders a bit as he walked up to Kurome. "Really sorry about that, dear. But I was certain that Akame would give in."

Kurome grabbed Yatsufusa and slowly rose up as he approached her. Her unfriendly eyes drilling into him.

"You see, I have used this trick on her once before. But that time it was her subordinates. Yet it went the same way. So I reasoned that if she chose her subordinate over killing me, then she would certainly do the same if her sister was involved."

Kurome was emanating hostility towards him but he still walked on. He needed to mend this as quick as possible.

"You know that I wouldn't kill you, right?" he said. His voice friendly. "I told you already. I need Wave and therefore I need you. I am your ally in this. You understand that right?"

Kurome didn't show any signs of lightening up on the hostility. Makeias thought about it for a second, then he shoved his spear down into the ground and took the last few steps towards her. "See? Now I am undefended."

Kurome just gave him a doubtful look.

"You see, Kurome, to me it doesn't matter if you strike me down now or later. I need you on my side either way." Makeias said with a smile.

"You were going to kill me." Kurome said lowly.

"And you were close to betraying me. Tell me, how have you yourself reacted to betrayal in the past."

That made Kurome pause for a moment. Makeias smile widened. "Yeah sure, if it came between saving you or destroying the empire, then I would chose your death. Any day of the week. But I would do the same if it was my own life we were talking about."

Kurome looked at him for some moments. Then she sighed again. Seizing her direct hostility towards him. "Fine. Let's just get back to Wave and the others."

Makeias clapped his hands together. "Yeah! Let's get moving." he said in a more happy tone and turned around.

After he had taken some steps, Kurome started to follow him. Walking down the tunnel. She looked at his back as he picked up his spear. She needed to talk to Wave about Akame's offer before she did anything against Makeias either way. This was fine. For now.

They both started to breath out a bit as they walked on. Their heartbeats starting to slow down as they both allowed themselves to relax.

And then it woke again.

Makeias just heard a loud hiss behind him. Which caused him to immediately turn around. Behind him, Kurome was bending forward once again. Holding her arm. "What is wrong?" he asked. Not really understanding what was happening.

"What are you doing?" Kurome said in a struggling voice. Looking at him accusingly.

"I didn't do anything." Makeias stated plainly. "What is going on?"

Kurome showed her arm to him. Showing how the darkness under her skin had started to spread again. Makeias eyebrows raised up in disbelief. He truthfully hadn't done anything. His teigu was acting on it's own. Morbus had awoken without his order to do so.

He immediately reached out to his teigu internally. Ordering it to stop. Using his willpower to suppress it's resistance. Taking control of it's power and then using it as he reached out to the piece of Morbus that was placed in Kurome's flesh. But he got no response. For the first time since he had gotten control over Morbus, a part of it didn't respond to him at all. As if the thing in Kurome's body had a will of it's own.

He reached out with an arm in her direction. Trying to see if it would respond to him if he got closer. But it didn't change anything. "What a hell..." he said silently as he felt how the panic started to gnaw at the side of his mind again.

Kurome clenched her teeth. "What is going on?" she asked in a pained voice.

"It isn't responding." Makeias said and moved closer. His voice a mix of worry, shock and fear. He crouched down in front of her so that he could look closer at the arm. It was spreading really fast, to his horror. It moved through her flesh as if he had ordered it to go all out. He reached out and put his hand just beside her arm. Some centimeters from her skin.

He put all of his focus into reaching the infection. Using all the control he had over his teigu. Gathering all his power into it in silence. But nothing changed. He might just as well have tried to stare the infection down.

"Oh gods!" he said and quickly rose up.

"What?" Kurome said. Her face covered in sweat. Her breathing rough. The fight inside of her body making itself known.

"We have to cut off your arm." Makeias said and reached for his spear. His voice fast and panicked.

But he hadn't even reached it before Kurome attacked him. Swiping at him. But Makeias was still quick. Moving out of the way by pure instinct. Able to move his body away fast enough for her swing to do nothing more than cut him lightly across the chest.

He came to a halt two meters from her. His spear drawn. "Kurome!" he yelled at her.

"You and your damn tricks." Kurome said lowly as she held her sword up against him. "You're never really honest, are you?"

"Lay down you weapon, Kurome. We have to cut Morbus from your body. It will kill you like this." Makeias shouted. His voice filled with fear and urgency.

"Shut up!" Kurome shouted back. Even if her voice getting weaker by the second. "You just want to take away any threat that I might pose."she continued in a low mumble. Kurome's mind was wavering, due to the stress on her body. She had a hard time thinking straight. But her instincts warned her that the thing that was damaging her was also a part of Makeias. Misguiding her.

"I have to get back to, Wave." she mumbled and tried to take a couple of steps to the side. But she had no strength left in her. She stumbled and fell over. Dropping Yatsufusa as she did.

Before she could hit the ground, Makeias caught her. "Kurome." he said. His voice filled with genuine worry. He had been prepared to kill her to reach his ambition. He was not prepared to let her die by pure happenstance. Those two things were worlds apart. Especially when his actions were the cause of it.

But as soon as his hands grabbed her, he felt how Morbus immediately started to move through his skin and into her. Causing him to immediately draw back his hands from her. Moving as if she was really hot. Letting her fall down painfully with her back to the ground.

"Goddammit." he cursed and immediately went down on his knees beside her.

Kurome mumbled something inaudible as Makeias wrapped a part of his ruined cloak around his hands. Allowing him to momentarily touch her. Even if he didn't dare to hold her for long.

He immediately started to move away the cloth of her short sleeve. He had done his first field amputation long before he got the powers of Morbus. This was going to be messy but he knew how to go about it.

It never came to that, however. The middle of Kurome's arm was completely black. All around. And then it spread out towards her hand and towards her shoulder. And when Makeias pulled back her sleeve over her shoulder, he saw that a long black vein was already spreading past her shoulder and to her chest.

Makeias momentarily stopped at the sight of that. Realizing that it was too late to save her by just amputating her arm. He slowly sat back down on his knees.

"This can't be happening." he whispered to himself as he tried to think of something. His eyes moving around the room. Doing his best to stay calm as he tried to analyze the situation.

As he was thinking frantically, he didn't notice how Kurome's healthy hand slowly moved to the side. Grabbing Yatsufusa, which had landed a bit beside her. She slowly started to lift it up.

Even if she was very strained, she knew what was happening to her. She knew that she was dying from Morbus. But she had an idea. Something she had thought of but never dared to put into practice.

Her teigu, Yatsufusa, allowed her to take control of the things she killed with it. Or corpses that she stabbed with it. It allowed her to control them despite their life being gone. So what would happen if she took her own life with the teigu? If she killed herself with the blade, would she then be able to still remain in control of her body? Would she be able to cheat death? She had never felt any need to test it but now she couldn't think of any other rescue.

She put her strength into moving her sword up towards her. Barely managing to lift it up. Her hand shaking slightly as she placed the blade against her throat. The image of a blue haired young man passed through her mind as she started to put strength into her her arm.

But as the blade was about to pierce her throat. Makeias hand came down and stopped it. Grabbing it around the handle. Beside Kurome's hand. He had finally noticed what she was doing.

"Stop that, Kurome." he said in a deeply troubled voice. "It is way too early to give up. Fight it!" he said and pulled the blade from her hand. Throwing it away. He was too stressed out to realize what Kurome was trying to do. Thinking that she was only trying to take her own life in order to end the pain.

"No." Kurome whispered as her teigu landed a few meters away from her. She tried to speak but now it was too late. She had no energy left. She could barely speak more than a few more words. Definitely not having the strength to lift up her sword again. Despair grabbed her. Deeply and harshly.

"Wave." she whispered silently. "I'm sorry." Tears starting to slowly pour down the side of her cheeks.

It was so faint that it was hard to hear but Makeias heard it nonetheless. He clenched his teeth in an expression somewhere between pained and angry. He reached over and grabbed his spear. Quickly standing up after that.

He couldn't think of a way to stop this at the moment but he knew of a way to buy time.

Morbus was still one entity. He was sure of it. Even if a part of it had suddenly gotten outside of his range and control. But he knew that it was still one single conscious. At least to some extent. And as such, the teigu had a limited amount of attention and power. And he was still it's host body. He knew that the teigu needed him to survive. Otherwise it wouldn't have kept him alive for this long.

So he knew how he could buy some time. He would give the teigu something more urgent to worry about. Forcing it's focus away from Kurome. And then he would use his willpower to fight it's influence. Hopefully buying enough time for a permanent solution to reveal itself to him.

He took a deep breath and grabbed his spear with both his hands. This would be fine, he tried to convince himself in his head. Probably.

It was a desperate move but he had no others right now. He closed his eyes and raised his spear up.

Then in one swift, strong motion, he shoved his spear through his chest. Piercing his own heart with it. Destroying his own blood circulation. The blood system that Morbus had taken control over.

With a silent gasp, Makeias fell down on his side, a meter from Kurome. The spear still going through his chest.

Makeias drifting out of conscious as Morbus immediately started to bubble around the new damage. The breathing of Kurome beside him growing thinner and thinner.

* * *

"That took a bit longer than expected." the prime minister said and stroked his beard.

He was walking down a long ornate corridor without any windows. Accompanied by what looked like Bellany. Waiting for him when the meeting was done.

"Did anything unexpected happen?" the Bellany look-alike asked.

"Nothing out of the ordinary. There were some objections to the new ministers that we are going to assign the coming week." the prime minster said in a relaxed tone.

"Ahh, did things get scary?" the young woman beside him wondered.

"Ohh no. Not at all. I wouldn't have advisers if I didn't want their opinions. They all know why they are there. There is only a problem if they don't have a good reasoning behind their complaints." the prime minister said and put his hands in his pockets.

"And they did?"

"Of course. They know when to talk and when to shut up."

"So the prime minister only surrounds himself with competent people then."

"Well, I try to." he said calmly. "Don't get too full of yourself though."

The girl giggled lightly. "So.. have you managed to find your new puppet yet?"

"Well, not quite. It is proving very difficult. I think I have found a good candidate but we will see how he is."

"Who is it?"

"A very distant relative to our late emperor Makoto. It is a boy that has been living outside of the empire ever since he was born. I have sent some of the best bounty hunters we have at our disposal to fetch him and bring him to the capital."

"So things are finally going to go back to normal? Sounds great!"

"We will see." the prime minister said. Sounding a bit more doubtful. "He is actually a little bit too old. The boy is already a teenager. It might be too late to turn him to a proper puppet. And if I don't have complete control over him, then he won't do. We can not take any risks with this."

"Couldn't he just be brainwashed down in the torture chambers, if that is the case?"

"Maybe. That type of procedure doesn't give the best results on some people. Many turn unstable or fragile after such treatment. But I guess that if nothing else works, then it might be worth a shot."

"Talking about torture." the younger woman said. "How are things with great general Esdese? I had heard that she has been in quite a dark mood ever since we made her kill her man."

"Quite so. She wasn't happy with the extension of her time as head of state. She doesn't like to play the political game. She is a warrior at heart. All the charades and theaters grinds on her patience. If she didn't have her duty, she would probably punch in the face of the next politician that tried to play nice and get on her good side in order to get some power."

"Sounds dangerous."

"She is dangerous by nature. But don't worry. Esdese is loyal to the imperial court. Or rather what remains of it. She will do her duty. Even if she doesn't like it. So we will have to live with her bitterness for now. Having her relationship with that boy turn sour didn't help, of course. I think she is still trying to make it work with him."

"Wait.. "work"? I was told that she killed him in the fight she had with him after the meeting."

"That is what we have been telling everyone. The truth is that she only incapacitated him during that fight. She is keeping him locked up in her quarters. Even if the general public doesn't know anything about it."

"Now that sounds really dangerous. Why isn't he kept in the dungeons or in a prison? Having a top ranked assassin in the higher levels of the palace sounds like a huge risk. No matter how chained up he might be."

"I do actually agree." the prime minister sighed. "But as you can understand, the situation is quite delicate. It is hard to go against Esdese's wishes concerning this."

"Maybe he should be removed then? Once and for all."

"It is a high risk game. The instincts of the great general are superb. She can almost sense danger before any threat even appears and it would be very troublesome if she found out that we tried to go against her in this. But yeah. I have been giving it some thought. I think I have an idea."

"I hope that it doesn't involve me." Bellany said and waved a hand in the air. "I still haven't recovered fully from the chair she threw at me."

"Ohh don't worry. You have played your part in that. I won't ask you to do anymore in that conflict. That was not why I called you over. I do, however have another job for you. You might have to change your appearance a bit again."

"Well, I am always open for more work." the girl said and put her hands behind her head.

"That is good to hear, you see..." the prime minister began but halted himself.

They had passed around a corner in the long corridor, finally reaching the end of it. However, the door leading out of that corridor was locked. It was a giant double door. Made out of thick iron. It was closed with a large iron beam fastened across it. Both of them stopped at the sight of it as theey crossed the corner.

"I don't remember this door being closed." the prime minister said and stroked his beard.

"Maybe the guards chose to close it?" the younger woman suggested.

"We haven't passed any guards yet and... this door has been closed from the inside." the prime minister said. Sounding a little bothered.

The would be Bellany was about to say something but was interrupted by a loud bang against the other side of the door. Causing the both of them to take a quick step back from it. Then another.

Bang!

The loud sound of metal hitting metal echoed through the room. The hit strong enough to make a bulge in the metal of the door.

"An assassin?" the young girl asked. Her voice surprised and scared.

"Probably." the prime minister said and started to back off. "We should leave."

They started to move away from the door when they heard the strong and booming voice of general Gallus from the other side of it.

"Open the door! In the name of the empire!" the general shouted as his hammer hit the door again. The loud boom of the impact once again filling the room.

"General Gallus?" the prime minister said in suprise.

When the large minister took another step back, Tatsumi attacked.

Neither the minister or the doppelganger heard his approach. He only made himself visible in the last moment. Deactivating the invisibility. The only perceivable sound was something that sounded like a faintly blowing wind. Caused by his quick movements.

He suddenly appeared up in the air. Behind his target. Slowly spinning around in the air. Moving his giant spear around.

For Tatsumi, it felt like the moment went on forever. Like he was locked in time. As if the entire world had stopped. Such was his urge to reach his target.

His mind was completely focused. His entire existence centered around this task. Fueled by a vicious, underlying flame of emotions.

This was what everything he had lead to. This was what all the suffering had resulted in. This was the most important moment in his life. If there was one thing his entire existence had been leading up to, it had to be this.

And as gravity finally brought him to his objective, a couple of images passed through his mind.

A man with ridiculous hair, lying dead in the rain, on the deck of a ship. A grave without a name. Two heads placed on spikes. One a red haired girl in town square. One a green haired boy on a wall. Two young teenagers, dead in a hidden torture chamber of a noble. A human in the form of a teigu, destroyed to the core. A couple of bones in a pile of ash. The leader of night raid, lying abandoned and dead in a burning city.

This was it!

IEYASU!

SAYO!

BULAT!

CHELSEA!

LUBBOCK!

SHEELE!

SUSANOO!

NAJENDA!

MINE!

"JUUUUUUUUUUUUUSTTIIIIIIICCCEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Tatsumi roared as he swung down.

The spear hit the prime minister in shoulder and then went sideways through him. Cutting away half of the prime ministers chest from the rest of his body. Most of his shoulder, along with his head and an arm were separated from the rest of the minister. Just as Lubbock had met his end.

The prime minister was dead before he realized that he was being attacked.

With silent thump, the separated part of his body hit the floor. And then the moment passed.

Bellany screamed out in panic as blood sprayed from the collapsing body of the prime minister. Landing on both her and Tatsumi. She fell down on her back in pure shock. Sitting down on the floor as what remained of the prime minister went down on the floor. Her eye wide and mouth open.

Tatsumi slowly straightened up. Staring at the head of the prime minister. Then he brought his clawed foot up and stamped down on it's throat with all his strength. The immense power of Incursio making the neck of the man literally explode in blood and gore. Sending the head flying in one direction and the shoulder, chest and arm flying in another one.

The act made Bellany start to crawl backwards. Away from Tatsumi.

He dismissed Incursio. Making it disappear into thin air. The blood that had been on it fell down on him when the armor went away. Covering half his face with it. But he didn't care. He wanted to experience this directly.

He walked over to the head. Passing by Bellany without looking at her. The woman immediately started to crawl in a different direction. He bent down and grabbed the head of the prime minister by the hair. He lifted it up to his face.

The prime minister's expression was relatively blank. Since he hadn't had time to react to what was happening. His eyes were half shut. His mouth was however, completely open. Since blood had been forced through it as his throat exploded. The lower half of his face was covered in the blood. Coloring his white beard red.

Tatsumi calmly stared at the dead eyes. "Everything you have ever tried to accomplish will now be torn down. Your entire legacy will be ruined. All your plans will turn to dust. Soon enough, nothing will remain."

He slowly lowered his hand to his side but kept his grip on the hair. "But then again, knowing what kind of man you were, you probably didn't care about what would happen to the world after your death in the slightest." he sighed.

The moment felt unrealistic to him. He had dreamed of this for so long. So now that he was here, he could almost not believe it. He looked up at the ceiling, his mouth open a little bit. He felt empty inside.

Then he slowly started to laugh. Small at first but then slowly growing louder and louder. Until he was almost howling. He was unsure why. He didn't feel particularly happy.

He was brought out of his cackling by the small whimpering of Bellany. Sitting with her back against the wall. Panting heavily in fear. Staring at Tatsumi. He slowly turned his head towards her. A calm smile on his blood splattered face.

"I actually forgot that you are here as well, Bellany." he said and started to walk over to her. Still holding Incursio. The loud banging sound of Gallus hitting the door still filling the room.

"Shit!Shit!Shit!" Bellany hissed and tried to scoot away from him more. Unable to do so because of the wall behind her back.

She held her breath as Tatsumi crouched down in front of her. "Are you sad that I killed the leader of your beloved empire." he said and smiled emptily at her.

She didn't answer. Just pressing herself back against the wall. The moment of silence only lasted for a couple of seconds.

"ARE YOU SAD?!" Tatsumi roared at her out of nowhere. He lifted up the prime minister's face in front of her own. Pressing it against her.

"I -d-don't.. I can n-n-not.." she stuttered as she tried to move away from the contact. The blood smearing across her face as she tried to move away from the dead head that he pressed against her. Tears starting to flow down her cheeks.

"Yeah, figures." Tatsumi said calmly and moved the head away from her. "You probably feel that Esdese is the true leader of the empire."

When he moved the head away, Bellany turned over to the side and threw up. Tatsumi waited until she was done before he continued. A calm and empty smile on his face. "Your beloved great general. You know what though, Esdese's body feels goddam amazing."

Bellany tried to wipe her mouth with the back of her hand but just started to retch again. Tatsumi just shook his head. "But then again you probably don't care about my privileges as Esdese's partner. Bellany hated them. But you aren't really Bellany, are you?"

That made the woman in front of him draw a sharp breath. Her eyes moving up to his again. Tatsumi just nodded. "I figured as much. You are not used to violence. Bellany was a seasoned warrior. She wouldn't have been rendered impotent by watching some gore. Where is the real Bellany?" he asked and tilted his face slightly to the side. His smile staying.

When Bellany didn't answer, Tatsumi slowly trailed the tip of Incursio along her shoulder. "I may not be no Esdese." he said thoughtfully. "But believe me, I can make this hurt."

"She is dead. She died a long time ago." she quickly blurted out when Tatsumi had said that.

He nodded again and started to stand up. "Good. You are a pretty excellent doppelganger though, I will give you that."

The girl put her hands over her head when he rose. Expecting the final blow to come. Silently starting to sob. Tatsumi looked down at her for some moments. He considered just shoving his sword down through her pretty little skull. But in the end, he didn't see any reason to. He didn't find it necessary and he had little blood lust left in him. He just felt empty.

He took a couple of steps away from her. Turning around to the door.

It was only when he did that that he noticed it.

Gallus pounding at the door had stopped while he was talking to Bellany. Now there was not a single sound coming from the other side of the doors. He took a couple of steps towards it and then stopped.

He was about to activate Incursio when the voice called out to him from behind the doors. The sweetest voice Esdese had calling from the other side. Making the hair at the back of his neck rise and filling his empty chest with a storm of emotions.

"Can Tatsumi come out and play?"

With a single strong hit, the double doors were torn from their hinges. Flying into the room. Landing on each side of Tatsumi as Esdese walked through the doorframe.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**And now there is only one chapter left in this very long arc. Proboably going to be a longer chapter then the other parts of this finale. As such it might take a little longer than normal. But I will still say 10 days and hope for the best.**

**Before the long break over the holidays, I was actually in a hurry to get this chapter out. Because I thought that I had figured out how the fight between Kurome and Akame would end. I always thought that Akame would cut Kurome and then Kurome would kill herself with Yatsufusa before Murasame killed her. Thus gaining control over her body even after it was dead. I thought that would be her trump card. But my theory was wrong and there was never any need for me to be afraid that it would look like I was not putting any thought into it myself.**

**I wanted to give thanks to Lavameme777(Flozo23?) for promoting Bent but not Broken in one of his own stories. It apparently happened some time ago but it was only brought to my attention now.**

**As always, thanks for reading and thanks a lot for all your feedback.**

**Until next time, take care of each other.**


	37. When reconciliation meets separation

**And here we finally have it. The big one.**

* * *

**When ****reconciliation meets separation.**

Most of the soldiers had already evacuated the big room when Makeias finally found his way to it.

The few that were left in it were focusing on different tasks. Some were carrying wounded warriors out, towards the surface. Others were huddled together around people lying on the ground. And a few people sat against the wall in the room. Resting or taking care of their own wounds. No one paid any attention to the former general.

Not that Makeias minded. There was only one person he wanted to talk with right now. And he spotted him after a second.

However, when his eyes landed on Tom-Tom, the old man was sitting on his knees with his back to him. Heavily bent forward. With his hands across his chest. The big gray owl struggling to hold balance at its place on his shoulder. Makeias halted his breath at the sight. His old friend seemed to be greatly damaged. He immediately walked up to him. Almost running the short distance.

"Tom-Tom?" he asked loudly as he got closer to him. "Tom-Tom?" he asked again in a calmer tone as he reached out with a hand and grabbed the giant shoulder of the old man.

When he did, Tom-Tom straightened up slightly and turned around a little bit. Momentarily moving away the thing he had pressed against his chest. Allowing Makeias to see the body of the broken little girl. Her blood coloring most of the front of Tom-Tom's attire.

Makeias could tell with a single glance that the girl was dead. Her chest crushed.

"God fuCKING DA-" Makeias started but then clenched his teeth in order to stop himself from screaming out. He turned his face up towards the ceiling. Trying to get back control over himself.

Tom-Tom slowly returned Liza's body to his chest. Looking down at her. "I promised her parents that I would look after them. And now I have lost them both."

"**We **promised them. This wasn't only your responsibility, Tom-Tom. It never was." Makeias said through clenched teeth. Still struggling with getting himself under control He was the leader. He couldn't show his men how badly this hurt him. Even though he was sure that Tom-Tom knew.

"You don't understand, Makeias. She gave her life in order to save my own. She died so that I can live on."

"Night raid?" Makeias said and looked down at him again.

Tom-Tom nodded while not leaving Liza with his eyes. "Leone and that boy with the water teigu. Isamu?"

"Yeah, Isamu." Makeias said.

"They went in to finish me together. Liza took the blow in my place. Just before our groups separated."

Makeias looked at Tom-Tom and then at Liza. Had she known that she had probably saved his cause by rescuing Tom-Tom? Had she realized how important her sacrifice probably was? Had she known how important Tom-Tom was? He didn't know. And it was not something he could ask Tom-Tom about now.

"She didn't deserve this. She was only trying to cope with all the misery the world was giving her. And mostly failed to do so." Tom-Tom said lowly. His voice silent and still. He didn't have any more tears left in him. They had been exhausted long before his grief was.

"Don't blame yourself too much."

"It was my time to go. Not hers."

"You had no say in her participation in this. I did." Makeias said and put his hand over his eyes. Rubbing them with a deep groan.

"In the end, I prioritized my ambition over my promise to her parents." Makeias said. His voice more unsteady than he intended. "I let both his children get involved in my conflict. And now the consequences of my decisions are making themselves known."

Tom-Tom just silently bent forward again. Putting his forehead against the head of the dead child. "One life gone. Given up for a chance to save thousands of others. It was not an unreasonable trade. It's just the pain.. it.. It cuts so deep."

Makeias nodded even if Tom-Tom couldn't see it. "I never imagined that Liza was one who believed in the greater good."

"It was just one life that she cared about." Tom-Tom said. His voice breaking as he rubbed his head against hers. "Just one."

Makeias understood what he meant. He clenched his teeth again and put his hand on Tom-Tom's back. "We can still keep half our promise. Jack can still be saved."

"We don't know that for sure." Tom-Tom said silently.

"No. But it is not an impossible outcome."

Tom-Tom just silently nodded.

Makeias straightened up a bit and looked around the room. Trying to put some momentary distance between them and the pain. Just to get a moment to rest. "Where is Wave?"

"He ran away into the tunnels some moments before you arrived. He was gonna try to find you and Kurome."

"Huh..." Makeias said. His brows furrowing slightly. "I will go and look for him in a moment. Did we lose Kai's body down at the meeting?"

"No. Some of his soldiers carried it with them as the battle moved away from that room. They didn't understand that Akame's small cut had already killed him."

Makeias sighed and rubbed his forehead. Not only had he lost a great soldier and a friend with Kai. He had also lost his main military administrator. The man that most of his soldiers had the deepest connection to. He didn't even know who would replace him. "Where is the body?"

"They have carried him outside. They want to burn it as soon as possible. As is their tradition."

"The military honor." Makeias said lowly.

Tom-Tom looked up at him. "One of us should be there."

"We should both be there. But first I need to find Wave. They will have to wait until then."

"Don't you think Wave can handle himself?" Tom-Tom questioned.

"We all need support in our darker hours." Makeias said and reached out with his other hand to Tom-Tom. The one that had been holding the sword the entire time. He pointed the dark handle at Tom-Tom. "Here. Send it to the main encampment."

Tom-Tom expression emptied at the sight of the blade. He recognized the teigu. "The girl?"

Makeias looked at him for some seconds and then slowly shook his head.

Tom-Tom face darkened. His eyes once again watering up. "Damn it." he said in a low voice as he reached out and grabbed Yatsufusa. "What grim days these are. When all the young and hopeful perish. Leaving us old ones to bury them and fight on."

Makeias could do little more than nod as he let go of the hilt of the sword. Tom-Tom bringing it closer to his face with the one that wasn't holding Liza. "There is one more thing that you need to know." he said in his deep voice. His voice thick with pain. "Noctuaz synchronized with Liza before her death."

Makeias eyes widened. He looked at the teigu in the form of an owl that was sitting on Tom-Tom's shoulder. "Tell me that you are joking?!"

Tom-Tom slowly shook his head. "That is how she managed to dart back and save me. Even when my death should have been sealed."

"The gods are cruel." Makeias said and reached up and started to stroke the teigu with a hand. He took some deep and steadying breaths. Fighting to stay in control. "That means that Liza knew the full extent of what she was doing. It is a mercy to know that she knew exactly what was going to happen but still found it a worthy sacrifice. But it is a cruelty that we only now figured out that the teigu actually wasn't dysfunctional. If we could have made it work earlier, then all of this could have been avoided."

"It is not like we could have known. We tried constantly for four years." Tom-Tom said. "It is not likely that we will be able to make it work again. We don't have that time. So if we fail, the teigu will fall into someone else's hands."

Makeias looked Tom-Tom in the eyes and nodded. Understanding what his old friend meant. "Noctuaz power is unimaginable. No other force can stand against someone who can use its knowledge." he said and looked up at the owl as he stroked it. "It is because of tools like this that the world is what it is. Because some people suddenly get the power to completely crush and dominate those around them by mere happenstance."

The hand that was stroking the large bird suddenly grabbed a hard hold around its neck. "They must all be destroyed."

Noctuaz screeched in pain and flapped with its wings as Morbus seeped into it from the hand that was strangling it. It's gray feathers flying in every direction as it struggled for its life.

After a minute, Makeias threw the dead bird to the side. The teigu destroyed. He started to turn around.

"Should I have them destroy Yatsufusa?" Tom-Tom asked Makeias.

"No... Not yet. We might still need that." Makeias said in an empty voice. "I will meet up with you at Kai's funeral pyre. Don't let them start it without me. Now I need to find Wave."

Tom-Tom started to rise up. Cradling Liza in his arms. Makeias stopped for a little bit and looked at her. Tom-Tom noticed his gaze. "Where should we bury her?"

Makeias turned away from him. Not able to keep his voice steady as he spoke. "What does it matter, where in the ground we put her? All the life is gone from her. All we have left is a corpse. Where we put it is irrelevant."

Tom-Tom looked down at the blond child in his arms. "Let's put her where we put her parents. We should, at least, let her rest beside them since she missed them so." he said and then looked up at Makeias' back. "You and I should be doing it. We should face her parents as we return their child to them. We failed them. We should not try to escape from that guilt. They deserve better from us."

"Ohh believe me, Tom-Tom." Makeias said and started to walk away. "There is no escape from this."

Tom-Tom looked at him for some moments as he started to walk away before he spoke. "One more thing, Makeias."

"Mhh?"

"I didn't bring it up since you seem to be fine, but as soon as you walked into this room, I noticed that you have sustained some horrific damages to your chest. I need to ask, are you okay? Your heart isn't even beating anymore."

"Well.." Makeias said and smiled sadly at Tom-Tom over his shoulder as he continued to walk. "..apparently I didn't need it anymore."

* * *

Esdese walked calmly into the large room. Her hands on her hips. Tatsumi could not see general Gallus anywhere so he guessed that Esdese had dismissed him.

Esdese's eyes traveled from the remains of the prime minister to the woman that was crying by the wall and finally landed on Tatsumi. And even if her expression had gotten a very bitter tinge to it at the sight of the prime minister, when her eyes landed on Tatsumi, it changed immediately.

He met her gaze directly. His eyes threatening and his expression determined. He was holding Incursio in one hand and half his face was covered in blood.

Esdese let out a sigh that sounded both happy, longing and excited at the same time. A smile that was hard to read formed on her face. "You are beautiful, Tatsumi."

Tatsumi couldn't stop himself from smiling back at her. His expression tired. Yet there was a little bit of sad joy in his smile. Killing the prime minister had left him hollow inside. Not really getting anything but emptiness from the act. But now his heart was exploding with conflicting emotions and needs.

"You have always been the looker between the two of us." he said and looked over her shoulder, then back at her eyes. "Gallus?"

"I sent him away. I don't want him to interrupt us. I don't want anything to disrupt my enjoyment of our last moment together." she said and drew her sword. Putting so much force into the movement that it made the wind blow against Tatsumi and Bellany.

Tatsumi looked at Esdese. Gallus being there or not didn't change anything. Both he and Esdese knew how this fight would end. They both knew who was the strongest one of them. They both knew that this fight would conclude with his death.

He smiled at her. "You know, I am happy that it is you and me in the end, Esdese."

Esdese's smile changed character slightly. "So am I, Tatsumi."

Tatsumi thought he could see something besides the dangerous happiness in Esdese's expression. A hint of something else showing through. Mostly overshadowed by her anticipation of the battle to come. She slowly started to walk towards him.

The Bellany doppelganger apparently saw this as her chance.

She rose up behind Tatsumi and started to run along the wall to Esdese's side of the room. As soon as she had passed Tatsumi she ran up towards Esdese.

"Great general! You can't believe how grateful I am that you are here!" she shouted in shaky relief. Almost sobbing. "He killed him, Esdese! He killed the prime minister! He betrayed-" was all she managed to say before Esdese's sword hit her stomach.

The attack was lazy and not really focused. Esdese mostly just brushing the annoyance away with a swing. Not really making a proper attack. The sharp blade cut the girl in two. Sending both halves of the young woman's body flying into the wall. Coloring it red with blood splatter as the remains hit the floor. Esdese's eyes did not leave Tatsumi's during the entire moment. She was getting rather close now.

"So you figured out that it wasn't the real one, huh?" Tatsumi said. Still smiling sadly at her.

"I was told that she had been put in prison for her transgressions. For withholding important information from me. Since she was here, it is clear that she has been working behind my back to deceive me. So whether or not it is the real one is irrelevant. Both would get the same treatment. And besides, not even once during her military career did Bellany forget to address a superior with the correct honorifics."

Tatsumi nodded. "Yeah. You can guess who that one worked for."

"Never mind that now, Tatsumi." Esdese dismissed. She raised her hand at him in an inviting gesture. "Come now. Equip Incursio. Give me all of your strength. Let me experience you in all your beauty and glory before I kill you. Let me have all that you are."

Tatsumi looked at her in silence. A part of him actually wanted to give in to her invitation. He was so tired of everything. He was so tired of the mind-games. He was so tired of the guilt and shame. He was so tired of the pain and suffering. A part of him liked the idea of giving this fight his all and then be relieved of it all. By the person that he loved so much.

He lifted up Incursio a bit and looked at it. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He already knew his answer.

If he engaged in this fight now, then he wouldn't be giving this life his all. If he just went into this fight now, he would be accepting his death. He would be giving up. He would leave the empire to continue its cruel ways.

He had killed the prime minister, but he knew that if he left the empire in Esdese's hands, then a time of anarchy would soon come to the entire country. The puppet was strong enough to survive on her own. The prime minister had at least always struggled for stability. In order to remain in control over the nation. Esdese had never cared about stability or control when it came to politics. She was fine with just letting chaos rule. Allowing the strong to survive and the weak to perish.

Tatsumi knew that if he chose to fight her at this moment, then he would abandon the world to its own devices. Since he knew that he couldn't win this fight. He would just be going to his death. And while a part of him cherished that idea, the bigger part of him still resented it. He still had one more opponent he needed to defeat. And it was not one that he could defeat with violence. That was her element.

He might just be choosing to die without a fight by taking this decision, but that was fine by him. He had come this far. He needed to try.

"So this is it, huh? You will kill me here today. And then you will go on with your life." Tatsumi said and lowered Incursio. His eyes moving up to hers.

Esdese's smile lessened slightly. "We always said that I would be the last one standing."

"Yeah. I just didn't believe that our separation would come by your hand." he said lowly. Trying to steer the discussion away from the imminent fighting and back to the conflict between them. And to his relief, Esdese took the bait.

"It was you that ruined it, Tatsumi." she said as her eyes narrowed. "It was you that betrayed me. Not the other way around."

"It was never you that I meant to deceive. You were never my true enemy. The imperial court was."

"And who is it that I am sworn to protect?" she asked rhetorically. Her eyes piercing him. "You tricked me from the very start, Tatsumi."

"All my deceit was meant for the imperial court. Not you."

"What difference does it make? It was my protection that you used to survive while you attacked my allies."

"All the difference in the world." Tatsumi said silently. Echoing what Esdese had once said to him. "I never wanted it to end like this."

"Then why did you betray me?"

"I didn't betray you. Just the empire."

"I am a part of the empire." Esdese said. Anger slipping into her voice for the first time since the discussion began. "I gave you a place at my side but I will not bend my ways for you. I serve the imperial court, Tatsumi."

"No, you don't." Tatsumi said and lifted up the head he was still holding in his hand. "This is where your loyalty was placed. Wasn't it?"

He threw the head in her direction. It landed a meter in front of her. Esdese gave it a bitter gaze. But then she just closed her eyes and sighed in irritation. She shoved the head away with her sword. "His death is another failure of mine."

Tatsumi watched her reaction carefully. "He is gone now, Esdese. You have never allowed the dead to bother you before. So I don't see why you would hold any loyalty to a corpse."

Esdese's eyes moved up to his again. "Do you honestly think I would allow someone to get away after killing my ally. Just because he himself is no longer here."

"He died because he wasn't strong enough." Tatsumi said. His voice growing bitter. "Isn't that what you usually say? He died because he couldn't survive. Therefore, he should have died. There was nothing wrong with me killing him."

Esdese's eyes just drilled into him for some moments but then she slowly nodded. "He died because he was too weak. That doesn't mean that I can't have loyalties to those weaker than me. Nor that I will fail my duty to avenge them, as their ally."

"I am your ally." Tatsumi said silently.

"Was, Tatsumi. Was. You didn't pick the place by my side in the end." Esdese said coldly. Her expression bitter but determined.

That actually made Tatsumi smile again. "Don't you understand? He is dead. I killed him. The imperial court is in shambles. The emperor is long gone. The former rule of the empire is gone." he said and lifted his arms on his side. "There are no more sides to stand on anymore."

A malignant force started to emanate from Esdese. It's oppressive power filling the room. "As long as I am standing there are." she said in her authoritative voice. "I will not allow the empire that I have sworn loyalty to, to fall. As long as I live, so does it."

Tatsumi took a deep breath. His melancholic smile staying. He had known that she would say that. She would do everything in her power to keep the old horrible empire alive. She regarded that as her charge. Her loyalty.

"That is fine." he said silently. His voice almost a whisper. He took a step towards her and looked her in the eyes. "I have defeated my enemy. The rest is up to you."

Esdese looked at him with suspicion. "What do you mean by that?"

Tatsumi shrugged. "Just what I said. I don't want to fight you. I have defeated my enemy."

"I am your enemy now, Tatsumi." Esdese stated. Her tone hard. But Tatsumi could feel something more in her tone. Something else. It gave him hope.

"If that is your wish, then yes." he said and met her gaze. His voice friendly and mellow. "Then I will die here today. If you want it to end here, then it will."

Esdese hesitated for a blink of an eye before she answered. But Tatsumi noticed it. "There is nothing left."

"If that is what you want, then that is how it will be." Tatsumi said.

This time, Esdese's answer took time. Tatsumi could see the hesitation in her eyes. Even if her expression didn't give way for it. He almost had her. Or so he hoped.

"If you want me back, then I am yours." he added in a quiet voice.

That made Esdese's eyes widen slightly. Her expression looking somewhat shocked. Once again her feelings were acting in other ways than she had anticipated. Her instincts struggling against her decision. Against her better judgment. It took her some moments to get control over her internal conflict. But after some moments, she just closed her eyes and smiled. Shaking her head lightly.

"Words mean little when it comes to you, Tatsumi. I have learned that now."

"It is just not my words, Esdese." he said lowly. " I wrote you a letter. I left it in-"

"I read it." Esdese interrupted him. "Words are still just words. Even if you put them on paper."

"The act of writing it should prove something to you. I wrote it, believing that we would never meet again. As the letter indicated."

"You wrote that you were attacked by assassins that came to kill you. You wrote that they had the keys to Incursio's lock. And that they then cut through the bars. And then tried to kill you."

Tatsumi nodded. "And I wrote that I still love you. I did that before I wrote my farewell, didn't I?"

Esdese seemed a little skeptical. "So you mean to say that they freed Incursio, took it and then cut through the bars to try and kill you. And then you fought them, took Incursio, at which point your assassins fled."

Tatsumi nodded again.

"That is quite far-fetched, Tatsumi."

"Whoever sent them have probably been in contact with those that made the lock in the first place. Since they had a copy of the key. Because I guess that you still have yours."

"Then why did they cut through the bars if they could just have easily had opened the door. The locks were made by the same person."

Tatsumi shrugged. "Don't know. But that is what happened. Or do you have some other plausible theory of your own."

Esdese just stared at him in silence. She didn't have any explanation for his escape yet. But if Tatsumi's story was correct, then there was only one person that could have sent the assassins. And the obvious culprit of this scenario that he had presented made her more hesitant to accept it. It suited Tatsumi a little too well.

The silent went on for some seconds.

"I love you."Tatsumi said after a little while. Completely honest. "That is not a lie."

Esdese kept staring at him for some moments after that. She thought that she could feel the sincerity in that statement. But she just didn't know anymore. "And I love you, Tatsumi. Now fight me. One last time."

Tatsumi looked down at Incursio. Turning it around slightly. The teigu was almost a part of his identity. But now the time had come to part with it. He squeezed it's handle one last time. Feeling immense gratitude towards the ancient weapon. Then he turned his eyes back to Esdese's. Her expression kindly inviting him to his death. Her anticipation for his final battle peaking.

"No." Tatsumi stated plainly and let go off Incursio. The blade rattling down as it hit the marble floor.

Esdese's smile immediately lessened. Her eyes moving down to the blade and then back to his face. "What?"

"I will not fight you." Tatsumi said with an empty voice.

Esdese's smile was completely gone. Her expression almost confused. "Why not?"

"Well.. basically because I don't want to." he said and smiled at her.

Esdese's expression filled up with anger at those words. "Would you honestly prefer to die on your knees? Without a fight."

"Yeah." Tatsumi said calmly and started to walk towards her. "We both know how the fight would end either way."

"Are you too weak to even stand up and fight?" Esdese tried to insult him.

But Tatsumi just kept his calm and sad smile as he steadily approached her. "You know that isn't the truth."

"Don't deny me this as well!" Esdese said loudly. Her voice was angry and commanding. But Tatsumi could hear the pleading in it. "Pick up your weapon!"

Tatsumi just slowly shook his head as he walked towards her.

"This is not how it should be!" Esdese growled at him as he got closer. "Your last moment should be a magnificent combat, Tatsumi. Don't make it end like this."

"I am not making this end. You are." Tatsumi said calmly as he started to get really close.

"You were the one that started this." Esdese said and raised her sword. The tip of the blade pointing right at him.

"I was the one that escalated it, yes, but I was not the one who started it. Neither was I alone." Tatsumi said and stopped. The tip of Esdese's sword almost touching his throat.

"You made yourself into my enemy." Esdese said coldly.

"I have always been what I have been. I always had an enemy in the empire. An enemy that still wanted me dead, long after I had joined you."

"You struck first, Tatsumi."

"Ohh did I?" Tatsumi said. A bit of irritation creeping into his voice. "What about my two allies, huh? My friends from my hometown that got killed in the torture room of a noble. For no apparent reason at all."

"That was a civilian's action." Esdese said calmly. "Murder is punishable by law in imperial court. Otherwise, the nation would be in chaos."

"Okay then, next time I was attacked by that pathetic trio you kept as your subordinates. I did not strike the first blow there. But I did strike the last. As you well know."

Esdese's eyes narrowed at him. "You were accompanied by Night raid members at that time. At that time, we were on different sides."

"Ok, what about the times after I came over to you then? I never did anything to incur the wrath of Bellany."

"Bellany had reason to be suspicious about you."

"Enough to justify framing me?" he said and gestured to the remains of the would be Bellany that was lying against one of the walls. "I think you have realized that that is what has been going on."

"You framed other leaders within the empire. I have been given proof of that. Even if Bellany might have turned out to be a traitor, there is still proof of that beyond her."

"Yeah. Did you think that I would not fight back?"

"Are trying to convince me that you don't want the empire to fall? That is one of the few things that I am certain about when it comes to you. You have always hated it."

"I still hate the empire. I hated it long before we first met. But I tried to live with it after I accepted your offer. It was the imperial court that didn't accept my surrender." Tatsumi lied.

Esdese was silent as Tatsumi continued. Her sharp eyes meeting his own.

"And what about Izou? He tried to kill me as I was training. You were even there to see that one for yourself. And you know who that man worked for."

When she didn't answer, Tatsumi continued.

"I didn't start this. But as you can see," he said and gestured towards the blood and gore behind him. "I have finished it."

There was a long silence after that. Both of them staring at each other. After a little while, Esdese spoke again.

"But you haven't finished it, Tatsumi. I am still here."

The sad smile returned to Tatsumi's face. "My business is finished. You were not my enemy."

"You have killed the prime minister of the empire, Tatsumi. Do you honestly believe that I can just let you walk away from that? I am loyal. I have duties."

"Weren't you loyal to me as well." Tatsumi said silently and started to walk towards her. Moving his head to the side so that her blade only grazed his throat as he took those final steps towards her. Causing Esdese to take a deep breath. Her instincts and intentions in full combat.

"I have nothing left but this anymore." Tatsumi said truthfully. "I have no faction in the world that doesn't see me as an enemy. I have succeeded with what I was trying to accomplish. There is nothing left for me now. So..." he said as he walked closer to her. Her long sword was lightly cutting the side of his neck. Making a small drop of blood trail down it as he walked up to her.

He stopped when he was just a foot or two from her. "... since this world means little to me anymore, I might as well give what I have left to you."

"You just said that you won't fight me."

"I don't have any more fighting in me at the moment, Esdese. Not against you." Tatsumi said in an exhausted voice. "We can have as many sparring matches and play fights as you want later. But if it is just for the purpose of killing me, then I would rather just end this quickly. Here and now."

Esdese face was filled with conflict. Irritation being the most apparent one. It was clear that she was struggling with what to do. "I should have cut out your clever tongue the moment I claimed you for myself."

Tatsumi looked up at her. Their faces less than half a meter from each other. Esdese's blade still pressed against the side of his throat. "It is yours to do what you want with. Along with the rest of me. But..." he said and slowly closed his eyes. "..if you are going to kill me. Then I would prefer it if you did it now."

He felt strangely calm when he had closed his eyes. Not that he thought he would survive this. Yet he still felt complacent. He had managed to kill both the emperor and the prime minister and had also caused the death of great general Budo. No matter how you looked at it, ha had succeeded greatly. He had never believed that he would actually get this far.

And he also had a creeping suspicion that it might be better for things to end here. He had noted that he himself had grown into quite a dark person during his time with her. He had become jaded to suffering. He had started to enjoy Esdese way too much. And he was still uncertain if he would ever be able to stop her. For even if much of what he had just told her had been lies, a large part of it wasn't. And that scared him. He feared what he might become if things would go back to normal. He had started to doubt himself.

So it was with a calm acceptance that Tatsumi chose to meet his fate.

Esdese's knee hit him straight in his stomach. Lifting his entire body up into the air with the hit. He would have thrown up everything in his stomach if it wasn't empty already. But before he had even landed, the hilt of her sword hit him in the back. Making him fly down into the hard floor with his face first. The collision making him dizzy.

_The rest is up to you, Akame,_ he thought as Esdese's strong hand came down and grabbed his shoulder. Swinging him around violently. So that he was lying on his back.

He kept his eyes closed. Waiting for the final blow to come. Trying to focus on the calm acceptance in his mind. Fighting the adrenaline the pain was giving him.

But the blow never came.

After some extremely long heartbeats, he suddenly heard the loud metal rattling beside him. He didn't have time to think about what it was before Esdese's strong hands came down and grabbed his head on the sides. A hard grip on his jaw and cheekbones as she violently lifted his head up.

And then he finally felt her warm and soft lips land upon his own.

At first, he didn't react. His eyes remaining close. Not really comprehending what was happening. Then with an emotional whimper, he responded. His arms immediately moving up and wrapping themselves around her slender and strong body. Lifting himself up from the floor as he pressed his body against hers.

The interaction made Esdese very silently groan into his mouth. Her hands moved down from his head and down around his back. Grabbing him. Her hands moving back and forth across his body. Grabbing him over and over again on different spots. As if she was unsure if it was really him.

When Tatsumi opened his eyes and looked into hers, she immediately moved her mouth over to his ear and squeezed their bodies together with a tremendous force. Making Tatsumi shout out a simple "Aah!" from the pain. As her insanely strong arms pressed him against her powerful body. She pressed their bodies together so strongly that Tatsumi started to believe that she had just decided to kill him that way.

But after some moments, she loosened up. Causing Tatsumi to gasp for air. One of her hands came up and started to ruffle his hair violently as his breathing calmed down a little. Then it grabbed a hard hold on it. Causing Tatsumi some more pain.

"I should crush every bone in your body." she hissed into his ear.

"Please don't." he whispered back.

The hand holding his hair forced his head backward. His face suddenly looking up at the ceiling as Esdese's nose reexplored his exposed throat and neck. Drawing deep breaths of him. He was kinda warm and sweaty from his fight with Dorothea but Esdese didn't care in the slightest. It was his smell and she had missed it so. Her face rubbing against his neck with such vigor that her cap fell off.

"I should keep you in my torture chambers until you can do nothing but say my name." she mumbled into the skin of his throat. Her voice a bit warmer. Her breath tickling him.

"I'm sorry." Tatsumi wheezed out.

She let go of his hair and her hands worked their way in under his shirt and moved up on his warm and muscular back.

"Finally." Esdese hissed in an almost triumphant tone through a teethed smile. Her nails carved long marks on his back. Deep enough to make blood trail down from them and make Tatsumi gasp. "You are finally mine again." Esdese sounded like she was talking to herself more than him.

Tatsumi was about to respond but her hands suddenly grew ice cold. Forcing him to fight back his voice. Muffling his first reaction to scream out.

"I should freeze you into solid ice and then keep you as a statue in my chambers." she said. Her voice not making it clear if she was joking or not.

"I think you would prefer to have my warm body waiting for you in bed." Tatsumi said between gasps.

Esdese was silent for some moments as her cold hands moved their way across his back, towards his neck. Getting his blood on them as they moved across the wounds. But then her hands became warmer again. "Yeah..." she admitted.

Tatsumi took some deep breaths as his body calmed down from the kick the coldness gave it. He moved his face up to hers and rubbed his chin against hers. Showing affection through a more primal way. Esdese answered immediately. Pressing back. Their heads stroking each other with such vigor that they created heat.

It took some moments for Tatsumi to notice that Esdese's face was wet. But at that point he didn't know who's tears it was. But he guessed that they were his.

"Gods.." he said silently and slowed down his movement. Making Esdese take the offensive. Pushing more against him. Forcing his head back. "I have missed this way more than I should have..."

"You are an idiot." Esdese stated matter of factly as she snuggled more against him. "You should just have given yourself back to me from the start."

Tatsumi started to return the motions again. "I'm sorry."

Esdese kept moving her head against his for some moments. The she slowed down and put her chin against the top of his head. "I really should kill you, though." she said. A serious statement hidden under the nonchalant tone.

Tatsumi just pressed himself harder against her.

She looked down at him. "I was going to do it, you know." she said silently. "I walked into this room with the full intention of killing you. Before anyone else got a chance."

"There are few in this palace that can finish me beside you."

"All the more reason." Esdese said. Her voice remaining low and calm. "Before you could kill more of my subordinates."

"I have killed all that I intended to now." Tatsumi lied.

"I am well aware." Esdese said. A bit of irritation finding it's way into her voice again. She grabbed his hair hard enough to cause him pain once more. But then the grip became softer again. She sighed as she started to stroke his head. "I am unsure of what to do."

Tatsumi knew what he should say. But he was kind of afraid to do it. Not that he thought Esdese would refuse it. He had made it past that point. But if he chose to embark on this road, then he had a feeling that he would become something much darker than he already was. But there was little choice left to him. He had chosen to try and live on. So he would have to do this.

"Let me help you rebuild what I destroyed."

That actually made Esdese chuckle. "You? Don't be silly, Tatsumi. You are a traitor."

"Only to some people. You saw to it that my crimes were only known to a few as you locked me up in your home."

Esdese sighed. A bit of annoyance coming into her voice. She didn't like where this was going. "You know that I can't let you do that."

"Why not?" Tatsumi said. Sounding genuinely wondering.

Esdese looked down at his head. "Do you really need to ask that. You killed the prime minister."

"Didn't he betray the empire as well? You know very well that he had officials killed within the empire. Isn't he a traitor by that definition as well?" Tatsumi argued into her shoulder. Esdese's head resting against the top of his.

"He was the strongest in his field. He was the best at controlling the imperial cabinet. That is why he was my ally."

"He lost to me, didn't he? I both outmaneuvered him and finished him. And I didn't need anyone else to do my job for me."

That actually caused Esdese to think for a little while. Silence taking hold for some seconds. "We were allies." she said after some moments.

"Were you really?" Tatsumi questioned. Trying to sound as submissive as he could while he questioned her reasoning. He didn't want this to turn into a competition. He needed Esdese to feel that they were reasoning this out together. Not that he was trying to win an argument against her. "He went behind your back just as much as I did. He sent Izou to kill me. He helped this new Bellany to avoid your punishment. And he never seemed that concerned with finding the emperor's true killer."

"So what you mean to say is that you are both traitors to the empire?"

"If you look at it like that, I have actually just killed a traitor. Doesn't that warrant some sort of redemption?" he said and looked up at her.

Esdese moved her head a bit away from him and met his gaze. Her expression thoughtful. When she didn't say anything he continued.

"Besides, he was the one in control, as you said. He was the one that failed the empire, didn't he? I mean, he is the one that let things get to this level. And then he was too weak to survive what he had created."

Esdese eyes wandered from him. Looking above his head as she thought about it. But he could see that his reasoning was doing its job. She was considering what he was saying. She was turning to his reasoning. After a little silence, she spoke.

"Maybe I should just lock you up in my chambers again and just wait and see which politicians that will rise to take the prime minister's place." she said in a thoughtful voice. It wasn't said as a threat. It sounded more like a suggestion. Even if she was literally deciding about the rest of his life.

"All the other schemers were suppressed and defeated by him. None of them are better than he was. None of them managed to defeat him. I was the only one who did."

That made Esdese's eyes move down to his again. She got a somewhat ridiculing look on her face. "You can't be serious."

He met her gaze steadily. "As serious as I will ever be."

"Tatsumi... You are a well-known traitor. I covered up your last deeds but everyone know that you used to be a member of Night raid. You can't be made into a meaningful politician."

"Yeah, your right. But I could be handling things from behind the scenes."

Esdese looked at him. Her brows slightly furrowed. But she listened as he went on with his suggestion.

"You know that I am good at it. I even outmaneuvered the prime minister and he used to be the best of them. Didn't he?" he said. The fact that he had managed to kill the prime minister by happenstance was not something that he needed to bring up now. Esdese did not need to know about all the random factors that had aligned to make this possible. She needed to regard Tatsumi's imprisonment in her chambers as a decision on her part. Not a sign that the prime minister actually managed to defeat Tatsumi in the end.

"I have been doing this for a long time. And neither you or the prime minister managed to figure me out until now."

When Esdese didn't answer he added: "You know I could do it. You know I could take his place."

She thought for some moments before she spoke. "To what end Tatsumi? What would you try to accomplish."

"To stabilize the empire. To put new ministers in place. People that we both like. Strong people that can manage the empire. And finally, relieve you as head of state. So that you can go back and just be a military leader."

He noticed that she responded to the last bit. He knew how tired she was with all her administrative work and political duties that distracted her from doing what she liked. "Sooo.. "she said as in a thoughtful voice. "You want me to let you continue with your scheming and deceit. So that you can mold the rule of the empire into what you want?" She still sounded skeptical.

"Into what we want." Tatsumi said. He knew that this was what he needed to emphasize. "You would be the only one that I reported to. I would let you know everything I was doing. We would be doing this together."

"I don't really have any urge to rule, Tatsumi. I am a warrior. I have sworn to defend the empire. I don't have any interest in changing it."

"There is nothing left, Esdese. The imperial court is in shambles. The emperor and the prime minister are dead. We won't be changing it. We will rebuild it. Otherwise, only ruin and chaos awaits the empire now."

"I am fine with chaos." Esdese said. "Let the world grow a bit harsher. That will sort out the strong from the weak more effectively."

Tatsumi swallowed lightly. If there was a single thing that he didn't want, it would be a harsher world. "It would heavily damage this nation. You know it. The empire would start to crumble. And then we would be on the losing side. Then you would have failed to protect the empire."

It struck Tatsumi, just how bizarre the situation was. He was arguing for the survival of the empire. A thought that he had always held disdain for. While Esdese was toying with the idea of letting it crumble a little. Their situations were reversed. But Tatsumi needed her to give him free reins again. And this was the one way to do it. And besides, their roles were reversed because the entire game has been changed during the last thirty minutes. All the old rulers of the empire were gone. All those that brought ruin and suffering to the world.

All except her.

"How will I know that I can trust you?" Esdese said. Returning the topic to its core.

Tatsumi took a deep breath. "I will bring as much evidence of what I am doing as I can. And I will tell you everything you ask for. But whatever or not you can trust me is something that you will decide. Besides, did you truly trust the prime minister? You were allies but I don't think you would have let each other dictate each others life totally."

Esdese put her nose in his hair as she looked up at the ceiling. Thinking about the entire situation. After some moments, he spoke again.

"Or you could just kill me here. That is your other alternative." he said. He knew that she had decided against it already so he tried to use it as an arguing point.

"Don't be silly, Tatsumi." Esdese said into his hair. "There are hundreds of ways I could keep you with me without letting you do what you want."

"Haven't worked out so well up to this point. Has it?"

"You won't be running around and disobey me if I take your limbs from you." she mumbled into his hair. It was meant as a slight threat but it didn't affect Tatsumi.

"You just said earlier that you don't think my end should be like that. You don't want to reduce my strength."

"No." Esdese said and moved a little bit away from him again. Putting her face in front of his. "No, I don't."

They just looked at each other for a while. Both of them just enjoying the intimacy. Then finally, Esdese spoke.

"All right. Let's see what happens."

Tatsumi's entire face shone up. He embraced her as hard as he could. Trying to imitate how she had almost crushed him before but not having the strength to do it. But it did have the intended effect. Esdese chins growing red and a satisfied smile spreading on her face. Deeply enjoying his squeeze.

"I love you!" Tatsumi said loudly. "I love you so much and you know it."

Esdese started to return the forceful pressure. "Now I know." she said into his ear.

They stayed like that for a long while. Just holding each other close. Listening to each other's breaths. Feeling each other's heartbeats. Hugging tightly amidst all the blood and gore around them.

Tatsumi was truly joyful in that moment. He couldn't help himself. He had missed her embrace so much. Even if he had denied it himself, he had been longing for her so badly. Aching for some intimacy with her again. Now that he had it, he was overwhelmed with simple and physical joy. Happy to be back with the woman he loved.

The joy strong enough to suppress everything else at the moment. Pushing away all his worries and doubts for the moment.

Because deep down, Tatsumi knew that his biggest obstacle still remained. The enemy that he truly didn't know how he would defeat. Mainly because he didn't think he was capable of doing it.

For Tatsumi was still aware that if there was ever going to be a true peace, there was one single person that needed to be removed from the equation. One person that just on her own had the power to stop any chance for a peaceful future. And probably would do so when it came down to it.

And that was Esdese.

* * *

Wave kept running through room after room. He couldn't find them anywhere. Neither his leader or his beloved. He had been searching for them for at least forty minutes by now. He had deactivated Grande chariot in order to conserve his energy. Since he still might need to fight some more.

He had found the corrupted garden. All it's plants black and dripping with black goo. Black leaves falling from all the trees.

He had been able to tell that no one was there so he had then turned around and started running around more aimlessly. Listening for the sound of combat.

But the entire base had turned rather quiet. He could not hear the sounds of fighting anywhere. Or any other sounds for that matter.

He ran around for another twenty minutes before he met Makeias.

He speeded around another corner in a large tunnel and there he was. The pillager making his way out from the big room that the tunnel led to.

The general had been fiddling with something under his cloak when Wave rounded the corner. When his eyes moved up and landed on Wave, they widened slightly. But then his usual smile formed on his face.

"Wave! Good to see you. Are you okay? Do you have any injuries?" he asked in a friendly voice.

"I am just fine, general. What about yourself?" Wave said and looked at Makeias. The older man looked extremely tired. His eyes had dark rings under them and his already bleak skin was paler than usual. And Wave couldn't help but notice that his legs and torso were covered in the black liquid. "You don't look so well."

"I will survive." Makeias said in a bitter voice. He didn't sound particularly happy about it. "Somehow I always do."

Wave nodded to him with a tentative smile. "General, have you seen any trace of Kurome? She headed off to help you against Akame."

Makeias smile became harder to read. He tilted his head to the side slightly. " Why don't we go back to the others? They are waiting for us outside."

"Is Kurome out there with them?" Wave asked. He didn't dare to think about why Makeias was avoiding his question.

"No." Makeias said and started to walk towards Wave. "She is not."

"Why are you avoiding the issue, Makeias?" Wave said. Worry spreading into his voice. Immense fear starting to creep into him.

Makeias put his hand on Wave's shoulder as he reached him. "Let's go to the others outside. Then I will tell you all about Kurome"

Wave eyes widened at that. "What do you mean... What is going on?"

"Let's just go, Wave." Makeias urged in a more troubled voice and started to push at him with his hand as he started to walk again.

Wave suddenly realized what was going on. He didn't know why, but it was clear that Makeias didn't want him to go into the room behind him. The one that he had just left.

Before Makeias could obstruct his view, Wave moved his head to his side. Looking over Makeias shoulder.

He couldn't see much because of the angle. The room was empty. Lit up by a couple of torches. And while he couldn't see much, he noticed a single pair of pale legs that were sticking out around the corner. And while the angle made it impossible for him to see anything more than her legs and shoes, Wave still recognized them immediately.

His eyes grew wide in shock as he drew a sharp breath. Without a word he bolted past Makeias but the general was prepared for it. The sharp breath had warned him.

He moved to the side, along with Wave. Grabbing hold around the boy with his arms as their shoulders collided. His own feet sliding back some meters on the ground as he tried to stop Wave's momentum.

"NO, WAVE! NO!" he shouted in a hard voice but it didn't stop Wave's struggling.

"LET GO OFF ME! Wave screamed back.

"YOU DON'T WANT TO GO IN THERE!" Makeias roared.

Wave answered by ramming his elbow into the side of Makeias face. Causing him to stumble to the side as Wave escaped his grip and rushed into the room. Leaving the dizzy general behind him.

He entered the room in one quick leap. Getting a full view of the body. And just as he had suspected, it was Kurome. She was lying on her side. Her back turned against him. Unmoving.

He halted himself in the doorway. "KUROME!" The body remained still.

Wave stood there for some moments. Frozen in fear. Then he started to walk towards her. Slowly accelerating until he was sprinting.

"nonononononoNONONONO!" His voice rapid and silent at first but then growing more into screaming as he got closer to her. "NO!NO!NO!NO!"

He jumped down on his knees and slid the last three meters to her. Grabbing her as soon as he could reach her. "Kurome!" he said loudly as he turned her around. Her shoulders and head landing in his arms.

Kurome's eyes were closed. Her expression still and peaceful. It was not that easy to detect since Kurome had such pale skin in the first place but Wave immediately noticed that she was bleaker than usual.

"Hey. Hey, Kurome." Wave said and shook her lightly. His voice suddenly small and gentle. As if he was trying to wake her from sleep. When he didn't get any answer his teeth clenched in a pained and panicked expression.

He immediately put his hand under her nose. When he couldn't feel her breath blowing against his skin. He immediately moved a little bit backward and put her down on the ground as he put two of his fingers on her neck. He couldn't feel any pulse.

He immediately put his hands on her chest and started to push down rhythmically. Performing emergency CPR. After a few seconds, he stopped and moved his mouth down to hers. Pressing their lips together as he breathed air into her. In his panicked state, it didn't occur to him that it was the first time they had kissed since before the first meeting with night raid.

Her lips were cold.

After some moments, he moved up again and continued to rhythmically press against her chest. "Don't give up, Kurome! Come on!" he said loudly as he continued the movement. Looking at her body as he did. Looking for any wounds. But he couldn't see any. Not anything that seemed life-threatening. She was a bit bleak but looked normal otherwise. He moved his lips to hers again.

He kept on doing the procedure as the time passed. But he didn't get any response. And soon five minutes had passed. Then ten. When fifteen minutes had passed, Wave's arms were shaking as they moved.

Not because he lacked the strength but because he had reached a point when parts of him couldn't deny the reality anymore. Yet he kept at it. But after another five minutes, his movements started to slow down. Until finally his hands stopped on top of her chest. "No..." he whispered silently. His voice shaking heavily. "No..."

His trembling arms wrapped themselves around Kurome's chest as he lifted her up into his lap.

"What are you doing, Kurome?" he said in a shaky voice as the tears started to flow down his cheeks. Smiling down at the lifeless girl in his arms. "Didn't we promise each other that we would meet again?"

He put his forehead on her shoulder and started to sob through gritted teeth. Holding her close to his body. Unable to stop the despair from taking hold.

He didn't even notice that Makeias walked up to him. But when his hand gently grabbed his shoulder he knew who it was.

"General." he said and looked up at the other man. His face wet with tears "Kurome. She isn't... I can't.. She doesn't have a heartbeat." he stuttered. His mouth trembling.

Makeias face was calm and filled with pity. "She is gone, Wave."

Wave looked down at Kurome again. "She can't be. I... I... I..." he said. His voice trailing off.

"I'm so sorry." Makeias said lowly.

"But.. But there aren't any wounds. She can't be dead. What killed her?" Wave protested. His mind still not willing to fully accept what he knew was the truth.

Makeias looked at Wave for some seconds. Then he crouched down beside him. He reached out and grabbed Kurome's shirt. He raised it up a bit. Exposing her stomach.

A little bit over her navel there was a cut. A small red line. Barely deep enough to make a mark. The cut not fully making it through the skin.

Wave looked up at Makeias. His face questioning. Makeias met his gaze. "Just the slightest cut from Murasame will kill you."

Wave's looked dumbfounded for some moments. Then fury filled his expression. "Akame!"

Makeias nodded slowly. His own expression grim. "I tried to save her." he said truthfully. "I'm so sorry, Wave."

Wave's face was constricted in anger. "She was her sister." he said. His voice furious.

"Night raid is just a bunch of murderers." Makeias said in a hard voice. "They don't lead. They don't protect. They don't negotiate. They just kill. This time they took one of ours. And then she took Yatsufusa and fled from me."

Wave clenched the fist that wasn't holding Kurome. "Akame will pay for this. If it so the last thing I do. I will make her pay."

He managed to hold on to his anger for some moments. But then the soul-crushing sorrow once again engulfed him. His furious expression giving way to pain and grief as he turned his face back down to Kurome's.

"This can't be." he said. His voice growing shriller as the tears started to flow again. "We had so much left to do."

Makeias looked at Wave. His thoughts involuntarily traveled to Liza's mother and father. The two of them had separated just like this and he had been sitting beside them. Just like he did now. Just as helpless then as he was now.

And now he would have to bury their daughter. The thought crushed him. "There aren't any words, Wave."

Wave slowly bent down over the body in his arms. Putting his forehead against hers as the tears kept pouring down his face. His voice a whisper as he spoke: "I love you, Kurome."

Makeias slowly started to stand up. Wave holding Kurome close to him. "I will always love you, Kurome."

Wave's voice was silent but Makeias heard him just fine. He needed to get out of the room. This moment was destroying him. He reached down and grabbed Wave's shoulder. He gave it a last squeeze and then let go. He turned around and started to leave.

Behind him, Wave started to sob again. Loudly and violently. His sobs slowly turning more and more into screams. They followed Makeias as he left the room.

He could hear his howling long after he had left the room. The wailing filled with pain and loss. Filled with loneliness. Filled with a wish for contact. Knowing that it would never be answered again.

Makeias walked through the tunnels aimlessly. Not really heading anywhere. Just wishing to get away. After walking for a long while, he could no longer hear the echoes of Wave's screams.

He reached down into his ruined coat and picked up the letter.

The letter that he had found in Kurome's pocket. The message from Akame to Kurome. The letter stating that both she and Wave would always be welcome to join the revolutionary army. That there would always be a place for them there. If they were just willing to fight with them against the empire.

A kind invitation. Filled with an underlying attempt at reconciliation. A try to rekindle something that would now remain dead forever.

Makeias voice was unsteady as he spoke. He had finally realized just how much control he had lost. How much power the sickness inside him had gained. And how horrifyingly true the words he usually used as his catchphrase had become. The words he usually meant as intimidation had been made into reality.

"I am decay.." he said as he closed his hand around the letter. Crumpling it. "...incarnate."

* * *

**Author's very long note:**

**...**

**...**

**...**

**So yeah, I decided how this arc would end a long time ago. Probably before I even started it. I was convinced that Kurome would die in the manga so I thought that if I did it right, I could time it with Bent but not Broken. But my expectations were overturned and now Bent but not Broken deviates from the manga on yet another point. Not that it matters much for that reason. It is all for the sake of the story.**

**It is hard to see any winner in this arc. Since all factions suffered heavily. But it could probably be argued that Tatsumi came out on top and the pillager on the bottom. Possibly sharing the last place with the empire.**

**And with this, the prime minister arc is finally done. From chapter 25 to this one. 13 chapters and more than 100 000 words. This single arc grew longer than I had initially expected. Longer than the majority of the stories on this site.**

**On that note, many people seem to have believed that this would be the final chapter of this story. I have been deliberately vague about it since I think that it would be a slight spoiler to reveal whether or not the story would end with this chapter. But as you might have gathered, I have another arc planned. And that will be the final one. Probably.**

**We have now had the introduction arc (5 chapters), the great general arc(9 chapters), the Garu arc(8 chapters), and the prime minister arc (13 chapters). And I think the last arc will be the longest one. The only time constraint I ever put on myself was that I wanted to finish this story before the manga ended. But now I am starting to get worried about that. Since this arc took so long and the manga seems to be finishing up.**

**I wanted to thank you all for reading this and following me for this journey. I have never explored one of my fantasies to this extent. Nor have I ever allowed my writing to grow this large. It has been a fun and enjoyable experience. And even if we now are moving into the final part, there is still a LOT more to come. Without you reading it, there would be none.**

**Until next time, take care of each other.**


	38. -Intermission- 1

**Ok, so this chapter grew way longer than intended. Almost reaching 15 000 words. Decided to split it up. The next one will be released on Monday.**

**I rarely like to explain the story in these boxes but I might need to clear one thing up right here in order to avoid confusion. This is a chapter between arcs, just like "Before the plunge" was. All the scenarios in this two-part chapter take place BEFORE chapter one of this story. These are scenarios that I wanted to write but couldn't really fit into something like a flashback. I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

**-Intermission- (1/2)**

**An evening in the chambers**

"I don't even understand why he is here?" the torture master complained and gestured towards Tatsumi. The man was giant and muscular. Wearing no shirt and having a large helmet on his head. The attire of the torturers of the capital's dungeons. "We have been trying to find government secrets from these traitors all day. He shouldn't be here."

Tatsumi was sitting on top of a torture bench on the other side of the room. His arms wrapped around his legs. His coat wrapped around him. His mouth concealed by his knees. His angry eyes slowly moving to the torture master.

The eye sockets of the torture master's helmet met Tatsumi's eyes for some seconds before his head turned to Esdese. "This might be a safety risk."

Esdese's eyes did not leave her work. She was standing with her back against both the torture master and Tatsumi. She was currently wearing her more clinical uniform. Looking something like a nurse's uniform. With long plastic gloves that reached past her elbows and her hair in a ponytail. She reached out with a hand to the torture master. "Pincer." she said without looking at him.

The torture master quickly gave her the tool she required. Carrying a small tray with different tools for her in one hand. After that, he looked at Tatsumi again. "He shouldn't be here." he said lowly and shook his head.

"For once, I actually agree with you." Tatsumi said. Looking at him. "You pathetic excuse for a jailer."

"I am not a simple jailor. I am a torture master. I am an expert in my field." the man said in disdain. "Not that I would expect someone like you to understand the difference."

"I was being courteous when I called you a jailer." Tatsumi said. "But maybe I was just insulting all the jailers in the world. Most of them aren't as deplorable as your kind."

The big man puffed up his chest as he turned entirely towards Tatsumi. "Are you looking for a fight, little man?"

"Maybe I am." Tatsumi said. Beginning to emit hostility. He started to very slowly straighten up.

Esdese's eyes moved away from the body in front of her. "Tatsumi." she said and looked at him. The word said as a warning. He returned her gaze and then mellowed out. Returning to his original position. Esdese held his gaze for some moments.

He had been a bit troublesome during these last days. It had now been three months since he had accepted her offer to join her. And while he had done so, it had not been an easy road from there. It was actually just a couple of weeks ago that he had finally stopped fighting her and trying to hinder her when she was working down in the torture chambers. But he still made it very clear that he hated these halls and what happened in them.

She herself actually enjoyed Tatsumi's little attacks. She found her matches with him gratifying and entertaining. To her they were nothing more than playful training. She could tell that he was only trying to stop her with what she was doing. He wasn't seriously trying to challenge her. So she let him have his little fights. Always ending them by putting him back in his place with some tough love. And after some time, he stopped trying. Realizing the futility of it.

But while Tatsumi hadn't gotten Incursio back yet, Esdese was well aware that he was still very dangerous for many of her subordinates. And while she felt a certain primal pride over that, she wouldn't let him hurt her underlings. Not if he wasn't sufficiently provoked. And in this case, he had been the initiator.

She looked at him for some more seconds and then turned her head back towards her work.

The torture master nodded behind her back. "He should leave."

"Would like nothing more." Tatsumi sighed with irritation.

"Then why don't you. You are clearly not wished for here."

That actually made Tatsumi smile. "You assume a lot."

"What do you mean?" the torture master said. His voice irritated.

Tatsumi just nodded towards Esdese's back. "It is not that I don't want to leave. I am not allowed to."

The torture master looked at Esdese's back and then at Tatsumi again."What?"

"Tatsumi is not allowed to leave my direct vicinity, torture master Gregor. I will not suffer his absence." Esdese said in an empty voice without moving away from her work.

The giant helmet that was a part of the torturers attire concealed all of the man's expressions. Yet it was easy to see that he was a bit confused. "Ehhh... Sorry if I step out of line here, general. But why? I think his presence down here is just a risk."

"Fully agreed." Tatsumi said. Glaring at Esdese's back.

She could feel his gaze, even with her face turned away from him. But it didn't bother her in the slightest. "You know very well why I won't risk it another time, Tatsumi." she said in a hard voice. "And I don't need to satiate your petty curiosity, torture master."

"N-no no. Of course not. My apologies, general." the big man said hastily and bowed down to her back.

"You're quite a bootlicker, aren't you?" Tatsumi mocked from where he was sitting. "Cruel to those you can afford to be cruel to and just fawner to everyone more powerful than you. Not much of a spine in you, is there?"

The big man took some seconds to answer. "That's rich. Hearing that from someone who switched side in a war. Simply because it had become favorable for him to join the empire. You don't have any moral authority here, Tatsumi the traitor."

Tatsumi turned silent at that.

Esdese gave him a quick glance. For many different reasons.

She knew that Tatsumi didn't enjoy hearing about that. She was unsure if he might attack her subordinate for that. Even without Incursio, he was still a highly trained assassin. He might be hiding his intentions from her and be preparing to strike. But when she looked at him she could immediately tell that wasn't the case. His gaze had moved down to his knees and his expression had gotten blank and empty.

Which was the other thing Esdese had been looking for.

She knew that Tatsumi's betrayal of Night raid was a sensitive issue. For both of them. She even avoided the topic for his sake. Not talking about it when she didn't have to. A sort of consideration that she rarely displayed. For her, the mere memory of his betrayal filled her with happiness. But she knew that it still hurt him to think about it. And she didn't want to make him feel pain for becoming hers. She didn't want him to associate becoming her partner with the pain of what he had to give up to do so. She wanted him to not look back so much.

So when she saw that the torture master's jab had hit a tender spot, she returned her eyes to the body in front of her. A bit of annoyance showing through in her expression. Irritation that her subordinate didn't realize what a delicate issue he was meddling with. The body strapped to the torture bench in front of her was long dead. She was simply testing some things out on the body. So it didn't really draw her attention away from the argument behind her.

The torture master seemed to pick up on Tatsumi' sensitivity. "Not much to say, all of a sudden? Traitor?"

Tatsumi looked up at him. "I would probably say that being viewed as a traitor is still better than being viewed as a torturer."

"Tchh. Even a hard job such as mine needs doing. As a professional murderer, you should understand that. If you are loyal, you are willing to do dark deeds."

"You know little about dark deeds." Tatsumi said silently. "All you understand is pain."

"It seems to me like you don't understand pain enough. Otherwise, you wouldn't say things like that." the torture master said and took a step towards Tatsumi. "But I could teach you if you are so ignorant."

Tatsumi started to smile again. He was about to invite the torture master to try something but was interrupted before he could begin. Both he and the torture master turned their heads towards Esdese at the sound of a loud crack. The sickening crunching of a larger bone being snapped stopping them both in their tracks. Both of them looking at Esdese's back. But she neither said anything or turned around. Not giving them any signs of her interest at all.

After some moments, Tatsumi turned his eyes from her back and looked at the big man again. "Have you ever been tortured yourself?"

"Of course not. I am an honest citizen of the empire. There is no reason for why I would ever be tortured."

Tatsumi just sighed and shook his head. "You have never stared death in the eyes. You have never risked your life for anything. You know little of fear or suffering."

"Are you trying to insult my professional integrity? I have studied pain and its effects my whole life. I am one of the bests in my field." the big man said. His voice growing more and more flustered while Tatsumi's remained calm.

"If you don't fully grasp the concept of compassion and love, then you can never fully understand suffering. You have studied pain in its most basic and crudest form. You are like an architect that is trying to learn how to build a palace by staring at a stone." Tatsumi said in a relaxed tone.

"I serve the highest of leaders in the empire."

"You are one of the highest of the lowest then. Taking care of the work that the most distinguished people usually don't want to dirty their hands with. You're like a garbage man. Just an unusually proud one, without any moral center at all."

Tatsumi had been unable to see just how far he had driven the man. Since his helmet obscured his face. He didn't think that a torturer could have much pride. So when he suddenly lashed out, Tatsumi was not ready for it.

The giant muscular man threw the tray that he was holding towards Tatsumi. Its tools flying everywhere. The attack was so unexpected for Tatsumi that it actually hit him right in the forehead. Causing his entire head to jolt backward by the impact.

He was down from the torture bench in an instant. His temper flaring.

He moved up to the torture master quickly in one long leap. The man was almost twice as tall as him but he felt no worry.

When he got close, the big man raised his fist. Intending to strike at Tatsumi. But before his swing had even gotten halfway, Tatsumi had moved under it. Sliding down on the floor on one knee, while delivering a hard kick to the other man's leg with the other.

The bigger man had clearly not expected the attack. Not being able to react to it fast enough. The well-placed kick swiped his legs away from under him. With a loud thump, the man fell down on his back on the cold brick floor. All the air going out of him by the impact.

He started to slowly get up but before he got anywhere, Tatsumi's knee came down on his throat. Pinning him down. He started to raise his arms up but he couldn't get far before Tatsumi's fist hit his helmet. Causing his entire head to ring with the sound of the impact. Disorienting him. Making his arms lose all coordination.

Tatsumi grimaced from the hit. Shaking the hurting hand that had hit the cold metal. He decided for a different approach and raised both his hand over the helmet. Intending to go for the eyes. But before he could deliver the attack, his entire body started to move upwards.

Esdese's hand grabbed the neck of Tatsumi's cloak and lifted him up from the torture master. Hoisting him up until his feet were dangling in the air. She turned around and carried him away through the room like that. Walking with him still hanging an arms length away from her. He tried to struggle against her but stopped himself when he looked up at her eyes. She was not going to accept behavior like this and it showed on her face. Her hard and threatening eyes meeting his. Making him mellow out and submit quickly. When he lowered his eyes from hers, she sighed lightly.

"You act like you're in kindergarten, Tatsumi. I thought you would have realized that I won't tolerate you behaving like this."

She put him down on the torture bench he had been sitting on but when she had done so, the hand that had been holding him up moved around him and placed itself on his chest. Slowly but firmly pressing him down. Forcing him to lay down on the torture bench. When his back was against it, she started to lock him to it. Closing the fastenings around his arms, legs and chest. When most of them were closed, she straightened up a bit. Standing beside the torture bench.

"You will stay like this for the rest of my time down here today."

"He was the one that got physical! I was just talking." Tatsumi spat out in his defense.

Esdese grabbed his chin between her thumb and index finger. Bending his face in her direction. Unsmiling. "Understand your position, Tatsumi." she said in a cold and hard tone. "I already have a hard enough time defending you against all the restrictions and confinements that the imperial court wants me to put on you. Rumors about you fighting with my subordinates doesn't help."

With those words, she let go of him. She turned around and walked over to the torture bench that she had been working at. When she reached it, she started to open the clasps and locks that held the dead body in place.

The torture master slowly started to stand up behind her. Grabbing his head with a hand. "God damn, he is a quick piece of shit." he said in an angry voice. "I couldn't even see him."

"He is powerful even without his teigu." Esdese said plainly. "Though not nearly enough for myself to be bothered by it."

The torture master nodded to her. Then turning to Tatsumi. "Guess you are not so tough when an imperial general is here to put you in your place, huh, assassin?"

Tatsumi just glared at him in response.

"You were a fool to strike at me. Here in the middle of all the imperial power." the torture master said and took a couple of steps towards Tatsumi. "You should have realized that you are still seen as an enemy here."

"No." Esdese said without turning around to the torture master. "He is not."

The torture master stopped immediately. Turning around to Esdese's back. "I'm sorry, general?"

"Tatsumi should not have attacked you. You are correct about that." Esdese said and worked with the locks on the torture bench in front of her. "But that is simply because he doesn't have the authority to do so. He is not in a position to administer punishments. He must leave that task to his superiors. He is not allowed to do it himself." she lectured nonchalantly. She lifted the dead body from the bench with a hand and threw it to the side. The body landing with a light thump in the corner of the room.

"He.. h-his superiors?" Gregor asked. His voice filled with uncertain trepidation.

Esdese turned around to him with a warm smile. Taking a step to the side of the now empty and bloody torture bench. Gesturing to it with an open hand.

"Come on, torture master Gregor. Your turn."

Ten minutes later, torture master Gregor's screaming had become incoherent.

Fifteen minutes later, Tatsumi was yelling at her to spare the man.

She was satisfied after thirty minutes.

She then released the man from the torture bench and walked over to Tatsumi. The torture master falling down on the floor behind her. She freed Tatsumi and then took his hand. Walking out of the torture chamber with him following her.

Tatsumi could only look at the man that he had argued with half an hour ago. He was on his knees, trying to pick up the remains of his teeth that were scattered around the torture bench. But his fingers were so damaged that it was hard for him to do. None of them had nails on them and some of them were way worse off. Even though the man was a torturer, Tatsumi couldn't help to feel a deep sting of pity for the man as he listened to his pathetic sobbing.

He looked at Esdese's back when they had left the room. Being dragged behind her slightly by her hard grip on his hand.

"You are a monster, Esdese." he said silently

"And you are mine, Tatsumi." Esdese said casually without looking back at him. Saying the words she would repeat endless times. Taking him with her to her next appointment.

**Small comment: I wanted to write a bit about the time when Tatsumi was still not allowed to leave Esdese' presence. And his experiences in the torture chambers. It has been referred to a lot before. It struck me just how different Tatsumi was at the first chapters in this story. He was not nearly as jaded and hardened as he is in the more recent chapters. He was much more innocent. **

* * *

**Bones in ash**

Tatsumi sneaked through the dark streets down in the military district. Keeping quiet and trying to not attract any attention to him. He didn't want anyone to know that he was there.

He was in one of the military districts that were placed in the industrial slums of the capital. The night had emptied out most of the people from this part of the city. Since no one actually lived there and most of the industrial activity stopped at night. Now the area was mostly deserted. But Tatsumi was was still nervous. No one must identify him here.

He was actually in kind of a hurry as well. Esdese would notice his absence pretty soon. He needed to be back to her side before that. Otherwise, she would try to find out where he had been.

So he moved as quickly as he could through the empty and silent street. The blowing of the wind the only sound except the echoes of his footsteps.

After another ten minutes, he found his destination. A big concrete factory. Walled off from the houses around it by a big wall. A little smoke trailing away from the huge chimneys that could be seen over it. But Tatsumi knew that the factory's activities were finished for the day. There should be no one there.

He looked up and down the street and then jumped up over the wall in a quick leap. Easily jumping over the four-meter tall wall.

He landed in the courtyard of the factory. Quickly looking around. But to his relief, there was no one there. The entire factory seemed deserted at the moment. Tatsumi had already reasoned that it would be empty. There was no reason for people to guard this place after dark. It was already in the middle of a military district. There were regular patrols on these streets anyway.

He moved up to the building. Walking around it. Searching for a door. He found a gate on the opposite side of it. It was heavily sealed. He had hoped for something a bit smaller. He didn't have Incursio so it would be hard if he was going to bash it in.

He took a couple of steps back from it and looked up at the building.

He had to go for one of the windows. The troublesome thing was that he couldn't see what was on the other side.

He picked one of the windows above him and then jumped up to it with a quick and silent leap. Using his elbow to slam through the glass as soon as he reached it.

When he got through it, he was surprised to find that he had entered a rather large hall. Falling down for some meters before he landed on the floor. Falling down to ground level again. The window positioned rather high up.

He quickly looked around in the dark hall. He had clearly entered the furnace room. He could see that much from the moonlight that came in through the windows. The left side of the room was occupied by large incinerators. Closed by large metal doors. Pipes leading out from the top of them. Going out of the room through the ceiling.

The other side of the room was occupied by large metal containers. Aside from that, the room was empty. He stayed low and listened for any alarms or sounds. But everything remained silent. He could here no reaction to the sound he had caused by breaking the window. He looked at the incinerators for some moments. He didn't want to go there yet.

He walked over to the containers. There were four of them there. Long rectangular metal boxes. With doors at the end of them. It was clear that they were delivered to this room. They were built so that you could move them around.

He moved to the door of the one closest to him. He grabbed it with his hand. He dreaded what would come next. But he had to do it. He needed to. She deserved some sort of closure. He didn't want her to just become one in the masses.

He opened the door to the first container.

It was hard to see what was inside of the container at first. Since not much light got into it. But after some moments his eyes adjusted enough to see the entire inside of the container.

The first side of the container was empty. The other end of it was filled with bodies. People piled up on each other. All dead. Fully clothed.

Tatsumi took a deep breath and then walked into the container. He couldn't see her at first glance. He moved up and started to work his way through the pile. Moving and lifting the bodies around. Searching for her.

The bodies were cold but it seemed like they hadn't been given much attention after their deaths. Men, women and children. Of all ages. Some of them had visible explanations for their deaths. Traces of their executions. But some lacked any hints of what it was that had killed them.

Tatsumi pretty quickly realized that she wasn't there. None of these people had come from the torture chambers. They were too untouched. After a little while, he threw down the last body he was holding into the pile again and turned around.

He walked out of the metal container and walked over to the second one. He took another deep breath and opened it.

The first thing that struck him was that there were a lot more of people in this container. They reached all the way up to the top of it and the pile began half a meter into the container. All the bodies were naked in this one.

"Hehhhh.. goddamit." Tatsumi sighed and pressed his thumb and index finger into his eyes. Even with his long experience as an assassin, the scene was still deeply disturbing to him. He took some time to stabilize himself and then got to work. Starting to search through the bodies.

However, this time it took a lot more work. The container was literally filled to the brim with corpses. So he had to throw more and more of them out of the container behind him as he got deeper into it. Some of the bodies had severe wounds on them or signs of torture. But most just had the traces of crucifixion and hanging on them. Yet nonetheless, when Tatsumi was halfway through, he was walking through blood. The entire floor of the container filled with it to the brim.

After half an hour, he had searched through the entire metal container. He had not found her. He gathered his nerves and walked out of the container. The area outside of it covered with the bodies that he had been forced to throw out. Strewn out around its entrance. He walked up to the last one of the containers.

She had to be in this one, he reasoned and opened the door. He immediately had to stop and look down at the floor for some moments. Gathering his strength again before he walked into it.

This container was not as full as the second one. But its content was much worse off. These were the ones that had come from the torture chambers.

Their bodies ruined beyond recognition. Most corpses so mutilated that it was hard to tell which gender they once had. Empty eye sockets staring back at him. Most of the bodies drained of blood. Many of them missing limbs. In some cases all that remained was limbs.

He clenched his teeth and walked up to the pile.

He walked out of it after ten minutes.

He had not found what he was searching for. His boots and the gloves he was wearing were red with blood and gore. He took off his gloves and threw them to the side.

He looked over to his last alternative. He knew that she had been sent here earlier today.

He stared in horror at the large oven like incinerators at the other end of the room. He swallowed and started to walk over to them. He would not leave her here. She deserved to end up in a better place.

He opened the door to the first one of the large metal furnaces.

And found what he was looking for.

He felt his tears well up at the sight of it.

He wouldn't had been able to tell that it was her if it wasn't for some of the accessories that hadn't been fully burnt. Her belongings thrown into the furnace with her body when. Some torn remains of pink cloth lay at the edges of the interior of the incinerator. Nothing remained of her though. Nothing but bones. Bones in ash.

Tatsumi just stared at them for a long while. Not moving a single muscle. Unaware if he was breathing or not. The world stood still for him. He felt how something disappeared inside of him. Something that he had been desperately clinging to. Something that now was dead.

He realized just how stupid this was. Just how futile his idea was. She was already gone. Never to come back. He would never meet her again. These remains were nothing but just that. Remains. And no matter what he did with those remains would change that.

Yet despite that, he still found himself reaching in and starting to take out her bones.

Brushing the soot and ash from them.

He did it in silence for a long while. But when he tried to move the spine out, the bone broke off into several pieces. And with it, his composure.

The bone hadn't hit the ground before he smashed his fist into the door of the furnace. Over and over again.

"DAMNIT!DAMNIT!DAMNIT!DAMNIT!DAMNIT!DAMNIT!DAMNIT!DAMNIT!" he screamed out as he damaged his fist against the hard iron. If he had had Incursio equipped, then he would have made short work of the metal structure. But now he was just damaging himself. Yet the physical pain didn't register with him. His mind in a frenzy and his heart in ruin.

He had tried so hard to make things work out. He had tried so hard to show everyone that he wasn't just a traitor. He had tried so hard to save her.

After some moments, he stopped and fell down on his knees. Just sitting there and staring at nothing for some moments. Then he slowly started to move.

He scooped up the bones that lay on the ground around him. The bones that he had picked out. Her bones.

He held them close to his chest. Pressing them into himself. Getting soot and ash on his clothes. He sat there for what seemed like an eternity to him. He felt that it maybe would be better if he just crawled into the oven himself and awaited his end there. Yet he didn't.

He didn't know why or how he managed, but he finally rose up. Still holding her bones close to him. Then he slowly started to walk. One step after another. And before he knew it, he was wandering the streets towards the palace again. Holding her bones close.

When he thought back to that night, he often wondered how he had managed to go unseen when he returned. He couldn't remember even looking around for any followers or civilians during his entire walk back. But by some extreme stroke of luck, his entire visit down to the military district was never discovered.

He hid her bones away in the quarters he shared with Esdese. Keeping them close for months.

**Small comment: A dark but necessary scenario. The words "bones in ash" is something that Tatsumi has been referring back to in his head when he thought about the past in earlier chapters. This is what it was. And its consequences and effects will be explored a little bit further in the next arc. See you in a day or two.**


	39. -Intermission- 2

**(This is one of the few delays that I won't apologize for. Since it wasn't my fault. I got a nasty case of the flu last weekend. So the promised release was postponed by a week. Though I am sorry if it made someone cry.)**

**Next chapter will be released 23/3**

**Here is the second and longer part of the chapter that takes place before the story begins.**

* * *

**-Intermission- (2/2)**

**The tyrant born from privileges vs The jester born from suffering**

The wind blew hard through the openings in the large tent. Making all the flaps and loose ends dance in the air. The rain smattered against the plastic walls of the canvas. Filling it with the sounds of the weather.

The night had brought ill news. Both in the form of the storm but also in the form of the military camp's unwanted visitors.

The large tent was dimly lit by some glass lamps. The fire inside the swaying lanterns flickering. The middle of the tent was occupied by a large table with some chairs around it but was otherwise empty.

There was a lot of tension in the room.

The six guest that had arrived just an hour ago were standing beside the table. Only one of them actually sitting on a chair. The other ones standing behind him. All of them wore cowls that covered most of their faces. Their robes gray and unassuming.

The tent also had some soldiers in it. Watching over the group.

The six visitors had appeared outside of the camp's main entrance, just half an hour ago. Refusing to give their identities to the guarding soldiers and demanding to meet the general that was currently in the camp. When they had been refused, they had started to threaten the guards. When the guards still refused them, they had killed two of them. Attacking out of nowhere by means the guards could neither understand or defend against. Using their teigus to completely destroy all the guards that refused them. Turning it into a gory scene.

It might have ended right there if the guards hadn't realized just how outgunned they were and started to retreat into to camp. Warning everyone in it.

The group of teigu wielders had then moved after them. Further into the camp. Moving at a leisurely pace. Killing the few men who tried to stop them. Making a show out of the brutal act.

But they didn't get too far before they were confronted by Tom-Tom and his men.

The appearance of the long and slender humanoids made the group halt as they were slowly approached by them. It was easy to see that the old man in the front was different from the footsoldiers they had killed on their way into the camp. The group could tell that this might turn out to be a proper fight.

Yet Tom-Tom didn't attack them when he reached them. He slowly asked them why they were there. After they had stated that they demanded to meet the general, Tom-Tom had simply nodded and turned around. Starting to walk away from them. After some moments, the group started to follow him.

He had led them to this tent and then left them there. Telling them that the general would be with them shortly.

Now they had been waiting in the tent for quite a while and the group of teigu wielders was starting to get restless. Making the few guards in the tent really uneasy. Afraid that the teigu wielders would take out their boredom on them. But before anything like that could happen, the person they had been searching for arrived.

They had waited for almost fifteen minutes when Tom-Tom returned to the tent. Holding up the flap that acted as a door to allow the man behind him to walk in without bothering about it.

The man sitting at the table smiled at the arrival of the pillager.

Makeias was wet from the rain and heavily hunched over. Holding a hand over his chest. When he had entered, he straightened up slightly and looked at the group that was waiting for him.

"Okay... okay..." he said silently to himself. He walked up to the table. Stumbling slightly as he clumsily approached them."I would welcome you to my camp but that would insinuate that I want you to be here."

"Ahh general, we finally meet." the man sitting at the table said loudly. "You are a hard man to find. We have been to three different camps, where we thought you would be, before we came here."

Makeias sat down at the table, on the opposite side of the group. His movements extremely awkward. Knocking over pens, papers and mugs that were standing on the board with his arm as he put it down on it to steady himself. The arm swiping across the table as he sat down. Makeias didn't seem like he cared or even noticed it.

"Yeah I heard about your little visits to my other camps. How many of my soldiers have you killed at this point?"

"Well, if you had just come to us quicker, then that number would have been a lot smaller." the man sitting in front of him answered in a somewhat nonchalant tone.

"I was occupied..." Makeias said and scratched his mid-section. Looking down at the table. Not really paying much attention to the group in front of him.

"Ohhh.. is that so?" the hooded man said in a condescending voice.

"Yeah. I came directly from the operation table just now."

"You're just full of secrets, aren't ya? I hadn't heard that you were a doctor, general." the man returned.

"I am not. I was the one being operated on." Makeias said. The words hang in the air for some moments. Leaving silence in their wake. "But they had to stop and wake me up since some annoying people arrived to the camp." he continued. His eyes moved up to the man in front of him. Properly looking at him for the first time. "Why did you come here?"

It took some moments, but then the man sitting across his table slowly reached up and pulled back his hood. Revealing the face of Syura. As he did, those behind him followed his example. Revealing themselves as the members of Wild hunt. Moving their robes back. Uncovering their attires.

Syura smiled at Makeias. "Do you remember who I am general? We have met before. Almost ten years ago."

Makeias straightened up and leaned a little bit over the table. Putting his other hand on it.

"Though it was during a ceremony, so I doubt it." Syura continued. "You were standing in the ranks and I was standing amongst the nobles." he said. His smile ridiculing.

"Excuse me." Makeias said and pointed towards his own head. "I think you have something on your face."

That stopped Syura in his tracks."What?"

"Yeah. Have you been working with some kind of paint recently? You have like a big..." Makeias gestured towards his own face. "Spot on your face."

Syura caught on to what Makeias meant. "It is a scar."

"Hmm. How unfortunate. It looks like you have a target painted right on your face." Makeias said and tilted his head to the side. "Are you a traveling group of festival workers or something? Like some sort of spectacle artist? Like those freak shows."

"Are you trying to insult us?"

"Ohh so what are you guys then?" Makeias said and leaned back. A smile on his face as his eyes wandered over to the people behind Syura. "Some kind of... Circus..." Makeias voice trailed off as he looked at the group in front of him. His eyes stopping on Champ.

Makeias turned around in his chair. Looking at Tom-Tom. "Are you seeing that?" he said and pointed at Champ with a finger. "Are the sedatives fucking with me or is that a big fat black man who has the face paint of an amateur clown?"

Tom-Tom's gaze moved up to the other group. Makeias turned back towards Champ. Pointing at the man with an outstretched arm "Right there. Between the samurai... and the.. girl with the bunny ears..." his voice trailing off in confusion. "What the fuck?"

Makeias hand fell down on the table again. He looked very bewildered. His eyes moved back to Syura. "Are you sure that you aren't a traveling circus? Cause you guys sure as hell look like one."

Champ was frowning. Glaring at the seated general. "I wouldn't expect an adult like y-"

"Holy shit!" Makeias shouted and jumped back in his chair. "It talked! Did you hear that? The ugly fat clown talked." he exclaimed. His face moving back and forth between Tom-Tom and Champ.

"Don't worry, general." Tom-Tom said slowly. "Your mind is not playing tricks on you. Our guests only seem to have gotten their clothes from the ruins of a bombed entertainment museum."

Makeias turned around towards Tom-Tom again. "That is horrible. Don't we have some robes or proper clothes that we can give them?"

"I doubt that we could find some that would fit all their different... sizes." Tom-tom said. The side of his mouth moving up into a smile.

The sight of it caused Makeias to start laughing loudly. Grabbing his stomach and bending forward slightly. Not able to hold back anymore. Tom-Tom and his guards chuckling him. Laughing at the guests and their appearances.

The group of teigu wielders did clearly not take lightly to the ridiculing. And they only knew of one way to answer such a slight.

They had all started to clearly emit hostility. Getting down in their stances. Getting ready to attack the other side of the room. Syura slowly started to stand up but when he did, Makeias reacted to his movement. He raised his fist and slammed it down on the table with such force that the old wood almost cracked.

"HOW CAN IT SURVIVE WITHOUT ANY CONNECTING TISSUE?!" he screamed out in fury. Causing the other side of the room to stop their movements. Everyone watching the general. "The blood still curdles as milk." he continued a bit lower.

The members of Wild hunt had all stopped their advance. Looking at each other. They didn't understand the general and it made them unsure.

It was not that they felt threatened by him. Nor that he was showing any sign that he was going to fight them at all. But all of them noticed that he seemed completely unperturbed by their very obvious preparations to attack. Which in turn made them wary. It was also that feeling that the general gave off to them. A subtle feeling of danger. Not in the sense that he was going to attack them or that he was hiding something intentionally. The group just felt that they shouldn't get near him. All of their well-trained instincts warning them. Telling them to put some distance between themselves and the man.

As if he was poisonous. Or diseased.

Makeias himself had started to sway slightly. Staring down at his closed fist on the table. After some moments, he spoke without looking up. "Why did you come here?"

Syura had stopped in his movement to stand up when Makeias slammed his hand on the table. Freezing. But now he slowly sat down again. He smiled. Trying to get things back to his pace. "We are gathering tools, general. Powerful tools." he said and spread his hands to the sides in an open gesture. "And we heard that you just got one."

"Yeah." Makeias said. Giving Syura a disinterested look. Still swaying back and forth slightly. "The imperial court sent me one. Sorry to disappoint you but it is completely useless. It's broken on some fundamental level. But you can have it if you want. I have no real use for it."

"Ohh I am not talking about the owl teigu, general. I am talking about the other one. The one you got by accident." Syura said and leaned forward a bit. "There is no use in denying it. I know that you have it here somewhere."

Makeias eyes returned down to his fist. "Ohh I have it alright." he said silently. "It festers and breeds. Both mentally and physically. It should be dead but we have started to believe that it was never alive in the first place."

Syura hesitated for some moments once again. The tent silent. The rain causing the only sound in it. "What do you mean?"

Makeias eyes moved up to his again. His expression empty. "Can't you feel it?" he asked. His voice blank. "It is trying to eat you at this very moment. But it can't quite reach your body. Since it is still confined to one flesh. But it is trying. God knows, that it is trying."

"Are you trying to threaten me, general?" Syura asked.

"Does the end threaten you? Do you feel threatened by the thought of growing old and withering away? Being put into the ground. Your body decomposing. Feeding other lifeforms. Giving way for new life. For that is all that a simple disease is. Many lifeforms being born from a single one. The circle of life. And it is terrifyingly cruel."

"A disease?" Syura said. Trying to understand the older man's rambling. Makeias once again seemed like he was talking to himself more than anyone else.

"That is what I am becoming. Though we are trying to fight it." Makeias said slowly. "But when you are looking at death's door and are unsure of which side of it you are standing on, then it is easy to see how horrifyingly temporary most things that we can understand are."

Syura had heard more than enough. He understood that talking would get him no further here. He rose up from his chair. "General Makeias, I have come here to take your newly acquired teigu. You can either hand it over to us willingly or we will take it from you by force. The choice is yours. We don't really care."

Makeias slowly rose up. Leaning on the table with both his hands. The group behind Syura got ready to fight and Tom-Tom and the guards had grabbed their respective weapons.

"Your father does, at least, have some subtility to his grim practices." Makeias said and looked at Syura.

That stopped Syura in his tracks. "What did you say?"

"Did you think that I had forgotten you, little Syura?" Makeias said and started to smile. "You have been training yourself I see. And you have changed your appearance a bit. But I still recognize you easily enough. You father and I do at least have an understanding."

Hesitation filled Syura's face. "So you do know my father."

"I understand that he gives you some free reins when it comes to internal matters. But do you think he would overlook you attacking an active military leader? One who is currently filling a near vital role in regards to the war at the borders."

The group behind Syura looked at their leader's back. Unsure of how to proceed. Syura himself was at a loss. He had not expected that the general would recognize him. He still had a lot of things he wanted to prepare before he returned to the capital. He didn't want his triumphant return to be ruined by negative reports and demands for his prosecutions. He wanted to show that he could handle things smoothly.

"There won't be any evidence or witnesses left." he said and snapped his fingers.

At that signal, Cosmina and Enshin flew past him, moving towards Makeias. The general quickly moved up and took a step backward. It looked like he was going to draw one of the spears on his back but then his eyes widened. Without a moment's warning, he bent forward and threw up. Black gooey liquid flying out from his mouth and nose. And not in small quantity.

It practically burst out of him. Immediately covering the table and the ground around it.

His two attackers slowed down by mere surprise. Wondering what was going on. Enshin stopped entirely while Cosmina simply jumped over it. Flying up a bit in the tent. But when she got closer, Tom-Tom had suddenly moved up to the side of Makeias. She hadn't even been able to see when he got there.

He swung at her with his staff. Holding at the end of the long rod. Striking with it as if it was a striking bat. Cosmina couldn't really counter it. The staff several times longer than her. And she couldn't stop her own movement since she was mid-air.

The staff hit her in the stomach and sent her flying back to the other half of the tent. Landing painfully on her back a couple of meters behind the rest of Wild hunt.

"Little kids should not play with such powerful tools." Tom-Tom said slowly. His eyes filled with contempt.

"Sorry about that." Makeias said and smiled as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "I don't honestly know what has gotten into me." he continued and then started to chuckle.

Syura was still unsure of what he should do now. The group behind him waiting for a signal. He didn't know if the general had some tricks up his sleeve. It sure looked like it. He didn't know if he had intended to spew out that black liquid or if he was truly out of control. Syura knew that if he was going to do this then he couldn't leave any witnesses. But now he was uncertain if they could accomplish that. The old giant beside Makeias had moved quicker than anyone Syura had ever seen.

Makeias smiled down at the table. "It hungers..." he said.

Syura followed his gaze and noticed that the black goo had started to move in their direction. Very slowly but it was visible to the naked eye.

He tsked loudly. There were too many uncertainties. They didn't know if the general was playing tricks and they had no idea of where the teigu they wanted actually was. Or if they would be able to stop everyone who knew who he was from escaping. They needed to retreat.

With a subtle signal from their leader, the group started to withdraw. Slowly backing out of the tent. Cosmina holding a hand over her stomach. Glaring at Tom-Tom.

"The next time we meet, you won't be so lucky." Syura said and turned around. He walked out of the tent as he pulled up the hood over his head. Wandering out into the rain. His teigu users following him.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Makeias said and scratched his mid-section. "Run off to your little games of blood and violence. The grown ups have a war to win."

With a couple of snorts and glares, Wild hunt left the tent. Disappearing out into the night. Leaving the tent silent.

Nobody moved for a little while. Everyone staying on their guard. But after some moments, Makeias fell down on his knees.

"What is happening?" he said in horror and looked at his hand. The black goo he had wiped from his mouth still on it.

Tom-Tom moved closer to him. "Is everything alright, general?"

"We need to get back to the operation. The teigu is gaining more ground by the second. Help me up, I can't walk on my own."

Tom-Tom grabbed the general's arm and hoisted him up. They walked out of the tent in silence.

**Small comment: Always wanted Makeias to meet Syura and co. But Syura was long dead by the start of this story. This is what I imagined it to be like.**

**The scenario is comical in nature, if not in practice. Even in his prime with Morbus, Makeias would not stand the slightest chance against the entirety of Wild hunt. But during this meeting, he is too hooked up on sedatives and adrenaline to fully understand the group that he is talking to. While Wild hunt misreads this and thinks that he is too powerful to be threatened by their powers. That along with the repelling aura of Morbus made them believe that they might be up against an opponent of Esdese's caliber. And thus made their retreat.**

* * *

**Their first time**

Tatsumi almost immediately noticed that something was different that night.

He was already lying in the bed when she entered the room. She had been writing letters in her study, which was positioned on the other end of her chambers. She had let him walk some rooms away from her but he doubted that she would allow him to leave her quarters. He had learned through experience that she was able to tell that he was close even when he was a couple of rooms away.

If he had still had Incursio then that might have been a different matter. But the great general had ordered Esdese to strip Tatsumi of all his power. And so she had. Begrudgingly. Though unbeknownst to Tatsumi, Esdese was already working on a solution to that. Trying to strike a deal with the prime minister about it.

But for the moment, he was bereft of the larger part of his powers. And while Esdese didn't enjoy seeing his strength reduced, it had made it a lot easier for her to control him. So she had let him wander around as she worked.

It was nothing new to Tatsumi. He had already discovered and explored every single part of her huge living quarters. So while the limited freedom was appreciated, he still didn't really have anything to do with his time. He could search for a good book to read. But most of those were in the study and he didn't want to go back in there. He could train for some time. But he didn't really have the energy for it.

He rarely had energy for anything like that anymore. Not since he had found Mine. He hadn't really cared about anything since then. He felt like an empty husk.

So after walking around aimlessly for a little while, he decided to go to sleep. He had been lying in the bed for almost an hour when Esdese finally came walking over.

He heard how she walked into the room and then got undressed and walked into the bathroom. She took a shower and was then back in the bedroom after some minutes.

She walked up to the large bed, behind his back. Stopping by the side of it. Wiping her hair with a towel as she looked at Tatsumi.

After some moments, she threw the towel to the side. The cloth landing on the end of the bedframe. She then lifted up the covers and crawled in behind him.

It was when she reached him that Tatsumi realized that something was up. He was wearing a small shirt and his briefs. She was wearing a buttoned up shirt. They felt each others clothes when their bodies touched.

She snaked her hand over his shoulder. Down his chest and stomach and then pulled his body back into hers from behind. Putting her nose into the hair at the top of his head. It was nothing out of the ordinary. They usually rested like this.

But Tatsumi noticed that tonight was different in the details. She wasn't really searching for rest. She wasn't relaxing. She still remained slightly tense and on top of things. She didn't try to fall asleep.

And just as Tatsumi expected, above his still and resting face, Esdese's eyes were open. Staring out at nothing as she thought about her intentions. She wasn't nervous but she wanted to think things through once more before going ahead. After some moments, she let out a silent "Hmph." as she smiled and decided to go for it.

Her fingers started to slowly stroke his belly. Her embrace becoming a little bit harder. When Tatsumi tensed up in her arms, she knew that he was awake. She moved her mouth down to his ear.

"Are you a virgin, Tatsumi?" she asked silently into it. The question caused Tatsumi to tense up even more. Which Esdese just found irresistibly cute.

Tatsumi had guessed that this would come sooner or later. He had realized pretty early on that Esdese wasn't asexual. She just hadn't found anyone that she was interested in having that kind of relationship with. But she still got her kicks and pleasure through other, often horrible, ways. However, she was very clearly regarding Tatsumi as her partner in love. And he knew that she wanted that to extend as far as possible. Now that she had found someone she actually wanted.

He slowly nodded.

Esdese's smile grew even larger behind him. Possessive joy filling her. She would be able to claim that part of him as well. "That's great, Tatsumi. I am as well."

Her hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled him backward so that he was lying on his back. She then moved over him. Standing on all four above him. Bent down a bit so that their faces were close to each other.

Esdese was smiling excitedly while Tatsumi's expression was bereft of any emotion. Meeting her gaze with an empty face.

"Let's do it!" she said in an enthusiastic voice.

Tatsumi thought about it as he looked at Esdese's thrilled eyes. He had already failed all those loyal to him. It was still only three weeks since he had hidden the bones under all the clothes in his drawer. Wrapped up in silk and bandages. Telling Esdese that they were just some keepsakes from his village. He had spent the last weeks thinking about how much of a monster he was. And if he now actually had become such a deceitful demon, then this was probably where he belonged. It didn't matter anymore. In his head, he couldn't get any lower anyway.

His eyes moved to the side. His head turned slightly. "Why not..." he mumbled.

Esdese's eyes widened slightly at his consent. His apathetic tone didn't bother her too much. "Let's see if I can't get you fired up." she said. Her confidence in her own body and charms showing through. She moved her head down and pushed it against the side of his. Moving his face back upwards. She then moved her mouth up to his, stroking his head with the motion and then kissed him.

It was not a delicate act. Esdese pushing his head down with the kiss. Just pressing their lips together at first. But soon enough her tongue moved out and started to force its way in between his lips. Demanding access.

Tatsumi didn't offer up much resistance. He opened his mouth and her tongue moved into it. At first, she just stopped when it had entered his mouth. Then it slowly started moving around. Exploring his teeth. Almost as if it was timid. Esdese's eyes staring intensely into his as their mouths remained connected.

And almost by instinct, his tongue moved up and pushed against hers. Checking the foreign presence in his mouth.

The moment their tongues touched, Esdese went on the offensive again. Encouraged by their interaction. She pressed his tongue down with her own and started to grind her lips against his. Moving her head a bit back and forth in pushing motions. Looking as she was trying to eat his face.

Her arms went down and around his chest. Slithering their way in between him and the mattress. When she had a grip around his chest, she lifted him up. She herself standing on her knees as she pressed his body against her. She straightened up with him in her arms. Until she was almost completely straight in her stance. The covers falling off them. Tatsumi's own arms only grabbing hers mildly. Not really having the same enthusiasm.

When she had straightened up, she moved forward and pressed Tatsumi's back against the bed's headboard. Making him sit down on their pillows with his back against it as she was standing on her knees. Bending over him. She remained slightly standing to emphasize their height difference. She liked how he looked when he had to look up at her. Her more primal side enjoyed the subtle power dynamic it displayed.

She moved her mouth away from his. Looking down at him. His lips and head moved after her for a short moment after their separation before he stopped. But Esdese noticed it. She smirked down at him with an assertive and confident smile. He was meeting her gaze. His mouth slightly open and his eyes concealing a slight wanting. But Esdese's instincts picked up on it. Not only because of his expression but also because of his heartbeats and slightly more labored breaths. This was going her way.

Her expression got slightly more victorious. She moved her hand down and lightly trailed the side of his face with her fingers. "Every reaction you give is adorable." she almost whispered.

"Thanks. I guess. Though it is hard to not worry whenever you look so satisfied. It usually means danger."

Esdese giggled."Well, I will admit, you would be delicious on a torture bench."

Tatsumi smiled slightly at that. Normally he would have been more worried about such a comment but now he just felt depraved. This was how he had felt since he found the bones in the ash. Like he had nothing left to lose. "Then why don't you? Why don't you end this imprisonment of mine with a single night in the torture chambers? Sounds just like you."

Esdese's hand stopped it's stroking motion and cupped the side of his head instead. "How little you understand about my love." she said and moved her face down. Closer to his again.

"You can't possibly claim that it is an easy thing to understand. You seem to be very fond of the idea of fighting me."

Esdese's nose touched his as she moved even closer. "Yeah. I would love that. Doesn't mean that I want to see your strength reduced. It is a risk that needs to be avoided if we fight."

"Violence and damage are two sides of the same thing. And you love them both."

"They are not the only things that I love." Esdese said. The hand that was holding the side of his face started to move down his chest. Her nails lightly clawing him.

"No. But they certainly are what you define yourself by." Tatsumi said. His tone getting bitter. "You live by destroying others."

But that only caused Esdese to giggle at his bitterness. "Despite all your strength and power, you are still such a tender little thing at heart, Tatsumi." she said. Her hand moved down and stroked the inside of one of his thighs as if to emphasize her point. "But don't worry. I will help you fix that. I will make your heart harder than iron. I will claim all your tenderness for myself and destroy what remains for anyone else. So no one in this world can hurt you but me."

It was said as a kindness but didn't quite come across as it. "That sounds truly horrifying."

"Don't worry. I will be with you all the way." Esdese said and put her forehead against his. "Speaking of which, you seem to be getting slightly harder in a more physical way right now." she said and very gently put her hand over the bulge in his briefs.

Her touch caused him to take a quick breath. His cheeks growing red. Looking down at her hand. She had never really touched him there before. She had seen him naked on several occasions already. They had often bathed together. Since Esdese didn't allow him to go too far away from her.

And while he certainly had gotten physical reactions from seeing her naked, she had never touched him there. She had just smiled at him or teased him. She had enjoyed the fact that she caused him to have that reaction.

Esdese's eyes widened slightly and her smile got a little more predatory at the sight of his innocent reaction. Her hand pressing a little bit harder against his crotch. Her cheeks growing slightly red. Though nowhere near as red as Tatsumi's was at the moment. She could feel how his heartbeats got stronger and faster. Even through his briefs.

"No need to be flustered, Tatsumi. I have already seen all of you. And I have told you many times over how much I like your body."

His eyes moved up to hers. His expression was somewhere between embarrassed and excited. Not sure if he wanted to tell her to stop or keep going. His eyes pleading her for something. Even if he himself was unsure of what.

But his gaze just made Esdese surer about what she was going to give him.

She looked into his eyes as she grabbed the sides of his shirt and started to slowly pull it up. Looking at his face for any objections as she gently undressed him.

She wanted to be careful this first time. Because Esdese was determined to make this work. One way or another. If he objected tonight or couldn't do it, then she would stop and back off. But she would try again. Maybe the next night or the next week, but she would try again. And she would keep trying until it worked. She was determined to make this progress. She wanted to have a deep physical, sexual relationship with him. She wanted their bond to be as strong as it could be. She wanted them to truly be mates. Partners in all aspects.

She didn't want their first time to be a bad memory for him. That might sour him to future interactions of this kind. So she would be careful now in the beginning. Mindful to not hurt him in any way she did not intend for. Even though she was confident that she could make him cross the line together with her by just her charm. She knew the sway her body had over his. She just needed to be careful about the rest of him.

But Tatsumi didn't protest as their eye contact was momentarily obscured as Esdese pulled his shirt over his head. Tatsumi moving his arms up to make the process easier. She threw the shirt away to the side when his arms were out of it.

She looked down at his well-defined chest. Nodding approvingly as she stroked his abs with her hand.

She enjoyed the sight of it. How it heaved with his now heavy breathing. She didn't know why she liked it so much. Most of her own subordinates were trained to this level as well. And many of them wore uniforms that showed it off. She could appreciate the beauty of their strong forms, yet she didn't feel the same attraction towards their bodies as she did to Tatsumi's.

She reasoned that it must simply be because she loved him.

She bent down and licked his chest in a long stroke. Her hands moving down and grabbing the lining of his underwear as she did. But when she started to pull them off, Tatsumi grabbed one of her hands.

"Hmm?" Esdese said and looked up at him. Her mouth in half a smile with her tongue on his skin. Her eyebrows raising slightly.

Tatsumi's face was red and his expression troubled.

"Don't you like this?" Esdese asked and withdrew her tongue. Her smile staying. Already knowing the answer to the question.

Tatsumi didn't know why he was so embarrassed and nervous. He had reasoned that these kinds of hesitations should have been purged from his body and mind. He had done such horrible things already. He had nothing innocent left in him. He shouldn't care about these trivial things. Yet when it came down to it, he couldn't help it. His reactions were almost instinctual.

When he didn't say anything, Esdese spoke again. "You got nothing to be embarrassed about."

"Am I the only one getting naked here?" Tatsumi blurted out. Without really thinking about it. Since it could be argued that she was way more exposed than him.

Yet Esdese only shrugged and straightened up again. So that she was looking down at him once more. "Shy boy." she said and started to unbutton her shirt.

She puffed her chest a bit forward. Deliberately close to his face as she opened up her shirt and let her breasts spill out.

Tatsumi's gaze went down from her eyes and stared at her big bosom. His eyes widening slightly.

Esdese looked down at him with an amused expression as she unbuttoned the last of the shirt, a little bit below her navel. "You seem obsessed with these, Tatsumi." she giggled lightly. "You often try to sneak looks at them when I am working as well."

"In my defense, you usually flaunt what you got quite a lot. Even with your uniform on."

"There is nothing wrong with being proud of yourself." Esdese stated plainly. "And it's fun in a way. Knowing that people want me. Desire me. Wanting something from me that I will never give them. Something that I will happily deny them."

"You even find a way to make your own charm into a cruel game for yourself."

"It isn't cruel to you, though, Tatsumi." she said. One of her hands playing with a bit of his hair. "Your desire for me will not go unanswered. In fact, I will do my best to reward and nurture it."

She reached down and grabbed one of his hands. She lifted it up and pressed its palm against her right breast. Looking into his eyes. Smiling invitingly. Her voice gentle. "Come on. Let's play around a bit."

The bizarre contrast caused Tatsumi to pause for a short moment. This was not the first time he had seen this sweet and gentle side of her. It was just such an extreme juxtaposition from what she was and did that it made him halt himself. But then his instinctual urges made him comply.

He put some force into his grip on her breast. Squeezing it lightly as he moved his face to her other breast. At first, he just stroked his head against it. Pressing his face into her. Feeling her nipple against the side of his face.

Esdese looked down at him with an approving smile. She actually had to fight against her instincts quite a bit at the moment. She wanted to be much rougher and harder with him right now. She wanted to take control more forcefully and do what her desires craved. She wanted to hurt him a bit. She wanted to make him squeal a little. She wanted to taste him. And the cuteness of Tatsumi's inexperience in this area only fueled that passion in her.

But she kept calm. Only allowing it to show through in her slightly more labored breathing. She would be gentle with him. At least this time.

Tatsumi was completely unaware of her inner struggle. Currently being way too engrossed in her breasts. He licked the one his hand wasn't squeezing and then put its nipple in his mouth. Sucking on it rather intensely.

"Ohh.." Esdese said in a slightly surprised tone. Her eyebrows rising slightly. "That feels surprisingly good."

Her words made Tatsumi do it even more intensely. His mouth moving over to her other breast.

Esdese put a hand on his upper back. Pushing him a bit further against her. Clearly wanting him to continue. "For some reason, it feels way better when you do it."

Tatsumi looked up at her but Esdese's eyes were on the wall above him Just focusing on the feeling itself. But after some moments, she felt his gaze and turned her head to meet it.

"You're doing pretty good by just following your instincts."

He moved his face away from her breasts and looked up at her for some seconds. Not saying anything. They looked at each other for some moments. Then Tatsumi's cheeks started to turn red again and that was more cuteness than Esdese could take.

She reached down and grabbed his hair with a hand and forced him up a little bit. Tatsumi's face contorting slightly from the pain. But she stopped pulling as soon as she was able to reach his lips with her own.

She put her mouth over his again. Forcing her tongue into his once more. This time, they were both a bit more sure about what to do and their roles. Their actions lacking a lot of the hesitations they had at first. Esdese pushing his head downwards and Tatsumi pushing back up. Taking turns in giving and taking.

After some moments, Tatsumi started to move his hands again. They had stopped and remained at Esdese's breasts when she pulled him up by the hair. But now they began to move again. Smoothly and gently at first but quickly growing stronger. Groping and massaging her bosom more forcefully. After a little while, he even pinched and pulled at her right breast slightly. Causing Esdese to lightly groan into his mouth. The sound encouraging him.

While she herself enjoyed the interaction greatly, she still refused to be outdone or subjugated. Even when it came to this.

When Tatsumi started to be a little bit more vigorous in his movements, she raised one of her knees and started to press it into his crotch. Grinding against the bulge in his briefs. Moving it back and forth. At the first interaction, Tatsumi tried to back off by instinct, trying to move his hips back. But it was almost impossible to do in this position. And if truth be told, he didn't really want to escape either. It didn't take long until his thighs opened a bit wider. Letting Esdese' knee do what she wanted as they kissed and caressed.

Just a little while after that, his hips were gently rocking to her leg's movements. But Esdese's precision was currently quite devastating to him. Slowly applying more and more pressure. Progressively driving him on. Riding between the point between pain and pleasure. Pretty soon he started to approach his limit.

"Esdese, I.. " he said into her mouth and looked at her eyes. Not getting his full message out. But Esdese picked up on it. Already well aware of how flustered she had made him. She moved her head away a bit. Smiling at him.

"Someone seem to be getting a little bit ahead of himself." she teased. Her knee moving away from him immediately.

"Esdese.." Tatsumi said in a longing voice. Way too wound up to be caring about acting resentful or showing restraint. Way too hot and bothered to keep calm.

Esdese almost felt her heart skip a beat at the sight of him. The longing in his voice and begging expression made a part of her go into overdrive. But she refused to let herself go wild. She needed to sweet and tender with him this time. She was going to stay in control. At least this time.

She moved her hand up and put a finger over his lips. "Ladies first."

Her hand moved down and grabbed one of his, that were still holding onto one of her breasts.

She moved it down and gently placed it between her legs. Looking him into the eyes as she did. Looking for some sort of reaction. Tatsumi didn't move away from her gaze as he felt the warm dampness of her sex on his fingers.

She moved her face a little bit closer to his again and then pressed one of his fingers into her with one of her own. Her chest rose and fell in a deep breath at the feeling of his hand as she slowly grinded it against her most sensitive area.

"Mhhh." she groaned and closed her eyes. "That is perfect."

She kept guiding his motions for a little longer. Pushing another one of his fingers in. Then she let go when he started to rub her on his own. Her hand moved away and stroked her own inner thigh in long strokes.

She moved her head down and started kissing him again. The hand that was wrapped around his back pressing him into her harder as his hand kept moving. Applying more pressure to his back at times. In rhythm with his hand's movement.

Esdese reached her peak a little bit after that. Her body tensing up. Both her arms moving up and pressing his head down into her chest. Pressing her head down against his. Her thighs closing as much as they could around him. Pressuring his hips from both sides as her entire body flexed and bent over him. Engulfing his body into her as much as she could.

After a little while, her grip lessened. A deep and strong shivers went through her. Making her shake ever so slightly. Her strong muscles quivered in absolute delight as the pleasure ebbed out in her. Her tall form still bent over him.

She didn't let him out of her embrace before her moment had completely passed. Enjoying it until she had descended from that top. Taking a few deep breath before she let him go after that. Moving away from his hand. Sitting down on his thighs as she leaned back from his body. Her long hair hanging down behind her. Her body slightly sweaty.

It took some moments before one of them spoke.

"Well.." she finally said between slow and satisfied breaths. Her eyes high above Tatsumi. Her cheeks still red and her eyes still showing traces of the delight. "That was something special."

Tatsumi raised his hand and looked at it with curiosity. It's skin glistening with the warm and sticky liquid.

"Take off you briefs." she said without looking down at him. Her tone a command now. Leaving no room for discussion.

Tatsumi did as he was told. Esdese separating her thighs a bit to make it easier for him to pull them down to his knees. His forehead touching the higher part of her stomach as he did. When he had done so, Esdese bent around and pulled them off the last bit. Shaking off her own shirt after that. She wanted them both to be completely naked. Nothing at all between them.

When she had done so, she turned around and looked down at his erection. Smiling slightly at the sight of it.

She moved a hand down and grabbed it lightly. Almost in a curious and interested fashion.

"I am always surprised by how warm it is. Compared to the rest of a boy's body." she said. Sounding like she was talking more to herself than him. She squeezed it lightly. Her smile widening when it grew even more in her grip. "You like that, huh?" she said and looked up at him.

Tatsumi just met her gaze. Not saying anything. His breathing heavy with excitement. Esdese moved her face a bit closure to his and started to apply more pressure with the hand that was holding him.

Esdese was not new to the male body. She had quite some experience in handling her different victims and pets. She knew how to get these reactions. But it was still very different this time. Now she wanted this to be as good as possible for him. And while she knew that some pressure and roughness would feel good for him, she was unsure of how much. Since sensitivity varied. So she attentively watched his face as her grip hardened.

After a little while, she passed the point of pain for him. He endured it for a little while but when it became clear that she was not stopping, he gave her a signal.

"Ahh." he said lowly. His eyebrows rising with the opening of his mouth.

Esdese's hand immediately stopped increasing the pressure. She let go of him with everything but her thumb and index finger. She had managed to get a good understanding of things. Even if it was still a bit tricky.

She knew that some of the sweetest ecstasies could be had if you pushed it right to the edge of pain. And sometimes even a bit beyond that as well. But she would be sweet and soft with him tonight.

She moved forward and positioned her hips above him. She could feel his manhood twitching in her grip. She knew that he probably didn't have much endurance left. She needed to get the main act going.

She positioned herself just over him. So that their parts were just touching. She smiled down at him. "Ready?"

Tatsumi just nodded in response.

In a slow and steady movement, she sat down on him. Joining them together. Tatsumi's full length engulfed in her soft flesh in a single movement. All the way down to the root.

They both gasped lightly in unison when the movement was done. Both of them losing their virginity in the motion. With the different experiences it gave them.

Esdese involuntarily squeezed him as soon as he had entered her. Just as a reaction to the unfamiliar thing that had been pressed into her body. The tightening making Tatsumi's entire body tense up. He himself overwhelmed by the pressure in itself. Already having a hard time enduring the new experience before she clamped down on him. The pleasure almost agonizing due to the sensitivity from his inexperience.

His arms went up around her stomach and he pressed himself against her. Almost doing it in something akin to panic. Needing to hold on to something.

"E.. Es... " he began but interrupted himself as she started to move.

She started to grind against him. Slowly at first but slowly picking up more speed. Tatsumi's hips being forced to move along with her rocking. Pushing his body back into the bed's headboard. Her movements not fast but still having a huge force behind them.

He kept hugging her. Pressing his head into her breasts. Looking like he was holding on to her for dear life as she rode him. Esdese movements were more grinding than thrusting yet he was still reaching his limit. Her folds and squeezing wet walls pushing him to the edge.

Esdese herself was unaware of how close he was. Even if it was hard for her to miss that the experience was intense for him. She was enjoying it greatly as well but it was more in an exploring sense. Trying to move differently. Trying to push him against different parts of her insides. She had already figured out what she enjoyed but she still liked to play around a bit. Curious about her own pleasure and experiences.

She was almost surprised when Tatsumi suddenly came inside of her. He wheezed heavily in a high tone into her chest as she felt his entire shaft twitch and throb rhythmically. His hips moving up against her in rhythm with the pulsation.

As soon as she realized what was going on she slowed her movements down a bit and squeezed him a little harder in beat with her grinding and his twitching. As if she was milking him.

When his body relaxed slightly, she kept doing that for a little while. Waiting until she was completely sure that he was finished before she slowed down and then stopped.

Tatsumi was panting heavily. Resting the side of his head against her chest. Esdese looked down at him with a smile. She considered whether or not she should keep going. She herself was good for at least a couple more rounds. She would actually like to. Since she still hadn't cum from his manhood.

But she decided against it. She didn't want to overdo it, this first time. Everything had gone splendid so far. No need to push it. This time.

She leaned forward a bit and just held him still for some moments. His back resting against the bed's big headboard. His head resting against one of her collarbones. She put her head down against his. They stayed like that for some moments. Then Esdese rose up on her knees a little. Separating them while still keeping him in her arms. She started to slowly lean to the right. Making them both fall down on the pillows. After that, she rolled around a couple of turns. Not letting go of him. Until only their heads were lying on the pillows. Or rather, her head. Tatsumi's head slightly below it. Partly lying on top of her.

"I can tell that you enjoyed that." Esdese said. Her voice happy and satisfied.

Tatsumi's head lay on its side on her shoulder. "Yeah... I did." he answered truthfully. Sounding like he didn't quite believe it himself.

Esdese nodded and let out a triumphant "Hmph." She had conquered this part of him as well. Now it was hers. And she would never let anybody else has it.

Tatsumi moved up a little bit and laid down on his side beside her. So that their heads were on the same level. Esdese turned to her side as well. So that they were facing each other.

"We are lovers, Tatsumi. So we will start doing this regularly now, okay?" she said. It barely sounded like a question.

Tatsumi simply nodded. Yet he couldn't help but smile a little at Esdese triumphant tone and happy face. "Can't say that I mind."

Esdese smiled her most rare smile at him. The one that had no malice, hunger, aggressiveness to it. She just looked pretty. Happy and pretty.

Her hand moved up and intertwined its fingers with the one of Tatsumi's that lay closest to her. Putting it on top his in a small and gentle motion. "Let's sleep now. We have an early morning tomorrow."

Tatsumi nodded. He looked at her for some moments. Then nestled his head down a bit into the pillow and closed his eyes. Esdese looked at his face for a little while after that. Smiling. Happy that everything had gone so smoothly. She reached out with an arm and pulled the covers back over them both.

Then she slowly closed her eyes. Going to sleep herself.

It was the first time ever that they slept like that. Usually, Esdese held on to him much more forcefully and in a much more restricting way. But now they were only holding hands. Only connected by that small and tender connection. The one thing that held them together.

They had been lying like that for almost twenty minutes when Tatsumi opened his eyes again. Staring at her peaceful and innocent face. He had stayed awake so that he could move away from her hand and turn around. Wanting to separate that little contact they had. Wishing to distance himself from her.

But now that he thought she was relatively asleep, he suddenly found it very hard to do.

Not because she was holding on to him or because he deep down knew that she would probably react to the severed contact. There was another reason. And he wasn't sure what it was. His instincts and emotions didn't want to let go of her hand.

There was something in that contact with her. Hidden under all the regret and pain. And it took him a long while to realize that it was happiness.

He had almost forgotten how it felt. But now he remembered it. And with it came a lot of other memories.

He remembered that there was still some sweetness to this world. Still some decency to existing. He had forgotten the joys of a happy life. He had forgotten why had fought in the first place. This little taste of something that resembled a pleasant moment had reminded him of what life could be. And now that it came back to him, he realized something.

He couldn't stop fighting yet. There was still something he could do. Still some things in this world that were worth protecting. His life still mattered. He could still make a difference.

He needed a plan. He needed to formulate a purpose for himself. Something that only he could do. Something only his unique position could accomplish.

He was awake a long time after that. Thinking about what he could do and how. Only falling asleep a long time after Esdese. Yet he never let go of her hand.

That connection, as feeble and small as it was, meant something to him. Their interaction setting something bigger in motion. Esdese had given him back something extremely powerful. Without realizing it herself.

Hope.

**Small comment: This is where it started. Both sides of the devastating sword. Both his plans to topple the imperial court but also his love for her. I liked the thought of both of them originating from the same moment. One initiated by Esdese.**

**So with this, we will now begin the next arc. Expect it in about ten days. I will write the exact date at the top of this chapter in a day or two.**


	40. Setting the stage

**The next chapter will be released next week. A couple of days after 18/4.**

**Ok. So I lost the last part of this chapter three times. THREE TIMES. Because of diffrent reasons. I had to walk away and not write for a couple of days. Just out of frustration. But here we are. Finally.**

**The intermission is over. The story will now move on.**

* * *

**Setting the stage**

It was a beautiful morning in the capital. The sun was shining and there was not a single cloud to be seen in the blue sky. The wind was mild and pleasant.

Tatsumi looked out over the capital as he walked along the wall. Far in the distance, he could see the palace.

He was taking a stroll on top of the large white wall that surrounded the city. Heading for a meet-up in a leisurely pace. His hands behind his back. It would have been an ever more pleasant walk if his leg wasn't hurting so. He was limping quite heavily. And he could probably have had a more relaxed company.

He had a young man walking beside him. Not yet out of his teenage years.

The boy had a mop of unkempt black hair on his head. His eyes were blue and he had some rather delicate features to his face. It seemed like he had just ended his growth spurt. He was rather tall but still a bit gangly. Not having had much time to build up his muscles and eat properly since he had been living in poverty until now. But he was still a little bit taller than Tatsumi. The boy was looking out in wonder over the view of the capital.

"Pretty amazing sight, isn't it?" Tatsumi said with a smile.

"Yeah..." the kid said. His mouth remaining open for some moments after he gave his answer. Then he remembered to put on his act. He closed his mouth and turned his sight away from the capital. Taking on a more dignified look. "The city really is vast."

"It's okay, Kotaro. You don't have to act when it is just the two of us." Tatsumi said and chuckled. "Looking impressed does not make you seem inexperienced. Not when it comes to things like this."

Kotaro was the young man that the now late prime minister had managed to finally find. After a lot of work. One of the few remaining relatives of the dead emperor Makoto. So distantly related to the emperor's family that he himself had not been aware of his lineage. The prime minister had sent bounty hunters to find him. Hoping to replace his dead puppet with the boy. And they had caught him and brought him back to the capital in captivity. As they had been ordered. But when they returned with him to the capital, the palace was in chaos.

The bounty hunters were told, upon their arrival, that the man who had given them their orders had been killed by the great general. She had declared a coup d'etat. Taking control of the city and killing the prime minister. Accusing him of treason towards the empire and its people. She had revealed his corruption and how he had aspired to take complete control over the political scene in the empire.

With that justification, she had the old man condemned and executed before anyone knew that it was happening. Taking control of the city herself. Not that it was such a huge leap to make. She had already declared martial law after the emperor's death. On behalf of the imperial court. Just to keep the situation stable. So she had already been having the deciding power over all of the political cabinets suggestions. Not that she had ever meddled with them before. Her denouncement of the prime minister was the first time she did so.

The bounty hunters had been unsure whether they should flee from the city or ask the military for their payment. But before the group had managed to form a decision, the new imperial guard had seized them and taken their captive from them.

And after being kept in the dungeons for some weeks, the boy was finally brought before Tatsumi. As soon as the situation had calmed down a bit.

"You say that it is important to always be able to keep up a facade, Tatsumi." the boy said in a very formal tone. Looking at him.

"It is. Self-control will always be your most important tool." Tatsumi answered. "But you have to relax sometimes. Better to take care of the few moments you have without onlookers."

"But we aren't really alone, are we?" he said and cast a quick glance backward.

Tatsumi didn't have to look to know what the boy was referring to. Ten meters behind them walked a large group of warriors. All clad in white uniforms. Members of the new imperial guard.

The military branch known as the new imperial guard was actually just a recently created part of the imperial guard. Esdese had formed it immediately after the prime minister's death. This new unit had been created for the sole purpose of controlling internal affairs in the capital. They were elite soldiers which she had granted an extreme level of authority. Their official purpose was to ensure a peaceful transition to a new rule of the empire. But in reality, they served as Esdese's, and Tatsumi's, personal troops. Acting as a special police force that had authority over all other branches of the military. Helping them take and remain in control. Often through rather grim means.

Tatsumi was not proud of this unit or what it did. Sometimes at his command. They had done everything from assassinating most of the remaining allies of the prime minister to taking kids or family members away from powerful politicians. Just to ensure their loyalty.

But for as much as he despised the existence of this military force, he had no doubts about its loyalty. Esdese had handpicked its members from her own legions. They were people they both could trust.

"Don't worry about them, Kotaro. They know what they should keep to themselves."

The young man nodded but still kept his act up. "So how are things going?"

"Well, we have stabilized almost completely. Though there is still a long way to go before we can put you in charge of things." Tatsumi said. Avoiding the fact that the he was the one who was preventing Kotaro's rise to power for the moment. Since he still didn't think that the boy was ready for it. "Though I have found some new people that I want to appoint to ministers."

"That is good to hear." the boy said and smiled. "It is troubling that it has taken this long to re-establish the imperial court after the black bath."

Tatsumi had been amused to hear that the common folk had started to refer Makeias' destruction of the imperial court as the black bath. He had not heard the term before he met Kotaro.

"Yeah. There weren't many survivors but it has been a busy time ever since the death of emperor Makoto. Still, I agree it has been going way too slow."

Tatsumi had been very picky about who he would present to Esdese. The nation needed the right people leading it if they were going to move on from its horrible history. The problem was of course that Esdese was the one who made the call of who would get the different positions. And she had her own standards and requirements that these people needed to meet.

"Concerning that. Have we gotten any closer to finding who murdered him?"

"No. We haven't been able to find the culprit yet." _And never will_, he thought.

"That's a shame." the boy said. "Do you think that the previous prime minister was somehow linked to it."

"Possible. If that it is the case then we will probably never be able to confirm it." Tatsumi said.

The younger boy shook his head. "Such chaos. The previous great general betrays the empire and tries to take over control on his own. Stopped and killed by the one that then becomes his successor. Following that, the imperial military suffers a big betrayal in the form of admiral Wave and general Makeias. During Esdese's first mission as great general. Then the emperor is killed by an still unfound assassin. Two weeks after that, the renegade general destroys the imperial court. And then the prime minister is revealed to have been a traitor all along and is killed before anyone can even object."

"Yeah." Tatsumi said. "I think you can understand why we can't put you in control yet. We have stabilized but there is still a lot of loose threads and no real routine. We can't have an inexperienced leader at this point."

Tatsumi could see that Kotaro reacted to that last part. He didn't like to be called inexperienced. Even though he clearly was. But the vanity of youth made it hard for him to hear it. But for the moment, he swallowed his pride. "Then when? When will I be taking over the title of head of state from Esdese?"

_When I think that you are suitable_, Tatsumi thought.

"As soon as we are sure that we can guarantee your safety in that position. Until that is a certainty, we will wait." he answered. Tatsumi had no intention of letting the boy rule anytime soon. Eventually, he would, but he was not ready yet.

"Can you give me anything more specific?" the boy pressed Tatsumi.

Tatsumi scratched his cheek. "Well, as soon as we can ensure that the faction of Makeias has been rendered powerless and we are sure of what has happened to the fleet that former admiral Wave stole."

The boy nodded begrudgingly. "Have you gotten any more news about their whereabouts?"

"No. We have verified that Makeias' forces eradicated the last remains of the revolutionary army while we were dealing with the prime minister. We have found the remains of those battles. Spread out over the countryside. As for the Makeias own army, it is still on the loose."

Tatsumi knew why they were not able to find Makeias and his forces. Even if he hadn't told Esdese about it yet. He knew that Jack and Spectator were still somewhere in the palace. Even if the boy had disappeared from all kinds of surveillance. But Tatsumi was certain that he was still somewhere close. And as long as he informed Makeias about their very thoughts, they would forever be outmaneuvered by him.

He would have to deal with that soon. One way or another.

"Does that mean that the teigu group known as Night raid has been destroyed as well?" Kotaro asked.

"We haven't been able to confirm that." Tatsumi said. He had followed the investigations rather closely. "While we now know that the revolutionary army itself is no more, Night raid always operated as a separate part of that movement. They could still be alive." he said and hoped.

"Aren't they a rather big threat as well. You taught me that Akame is one of the deadliest people of our time."

Tatsumi looked at the other boy. "That is a very common misconception, Kotaro. It is very important that you understand this. Strength does not mean everything. Even if a certain great general will tell you otherwise." Tatsumi said and looked forward towards the group in the distance. Those that the two of them were heading for. "Akame is probably one of the best fighters alive right now. I doubt I could survive her. Esdese might stand a good chance, though."

"So why isn't she a prioritized target right now?"

"Because we are trying to build a nation that will have the support of the people. If we have that support, then she can kill as many official as she wants. New ones will rise to replace them. Night raid served a near vital purpose with the revolutionary army behind them. But now that movement is gone and their potency to bring change is gone with it. Though it has sadly been replaced by a far more vicious and destructive force in the form of Makeias."

The boy nodded attentively. Tatsumi liked his enthusiasm about these things. At least he was a quick learner. He was thinking about that when he suddenly misstepped because of his limping. Taking a moment to regain his balance. Grabbing his hurting thigh for a moment as he did.

The boy stopped and looked at him. "You okay?"

Tatsumi nodded but the boy looked slightly bothered. This was not the first time he had seen his teacher like this and it was always because of the same reason.

"Esdese?"

"Yeah." Tatsumi said and grimaced. "Just some though love."

It had been four months since he had killed the prime minister. And ever since then, Esdese had been so occupied that she barely even had time to go to the torture chambers. Let alone, get into some real fights. Her duties had been monstrous during this time. She had to shoulder not only the entire military but also the entire political scene. Holding everything stable while Tatsumi worked behind the scenes to relieve her of these duties. And she had done it tirelessly.

But it was easy for Tatsumi to tell that she was quite unhappy with her current lifestyle. Her loyalty had painted her into a corner where she could no longer dedicate herself to the things she liked in life. And while it gave him some momentary relief, it still stung him to see her like that. Even though he knew that it shouldn't. The boring routines, endless meetings and jogtrots sucking the life out of her.

So during these four months, he had taken it upon himself to relieve her of her stress and boredom.

Three times had he challenged her to a full on duel. Three times had he given her everything that he had. Three times had he given her a chance to unleash completely.

And unleash she had. Flexing her monstrous powers. Showing him all kinds of new tricks and attacks that she had invented but couldn't get a chance to test out anymore. Fully stretching out the wide magnitude of her powers. Shoving it all into Tatsumi. Forcing him to take it. And he had. He had fought her head on. Meeting it with all he had. Giving her a chance to truly enjoy herself.

All of these fights had turned so wild and destructive each time that Tatsumi had started to doubt that he could make it out alive each time. And yet he had. Esdese somehow managed to stop just in time. Damaging him quite a lot but never too much. Which surprised Tatsumi every time. Yet he could see the results of his pain each time. Esdese usually brightening up for days after their fights. Her steps having much more spring in them. The things that traumatized most only recharging her batteries.

But Esdese had wisened up to it pretty quickly and realized that he was only doing this for her sake. That he wasn't enjoying it at all himself. So when he just the other day had challenged her for the third time, she had ordered him to stop when things were starting to get too intense for him. But now, the day after that, it occurred to him that he probably should have stopped the fight even earlier than he had.

"My father always said that a man needs to be able to keep his woman in check." the young boy beside him said.

"An old-fashioned idea of a relationship."

"But it's true in this case, isn't it?" the boy said. "Esdese needs someone who is capable of putting a leash on her."

Tatsumi gave him a skeptical look. "You know of who we speak here. Don't be foolish. Esdese will never be subjugated."

"Maybe.." the boy said. Trying to sound enigmatic. "Maybe."

Tatsumi sighed lightly. He knew where the boy was coming from in this. He had learned to not take these small slights seriously. Since he had quickly realized that Kotaro's need to criticize his relationship with the great general had nothing to do with him. It all stemmed from the boy's feelings for Esdese.

Tatsumi shook his head slightly and looked up ahead of them. "Speak of the devil." Tatsumi said.

They were still pretty far away but the group ahead of them had started to become more distinguishable. Now you could actually make out Esdese, with her long blue hair and white robe. Though she was surrounded by other people that seemed to need the attention of her position.

_Those are her shackles_, Tatsumi thought. _And I put them on her._

For some reason, the thought didn't make him happy.

"I would suggest that you don't talk about leashes around the great general." Tatsumi said and smiled at the boy. "If you are unlucky, she might put one on you. And I don't mean that metaphorically."

"Hmph" the boy said and put his nose in the air. "I know how the handle myself with women."

He started to walk a bit faster. Walking a few steps in front of Tatsumi.

Tatsumi just smiled tiredly at the boys back. He was young. So very, very young. And not only in the sense of years. He was such a teenager. Hiding his uncertainties with big acts and empty bravados. Needing to prove and define himself all the time. Yet still a slave to his hormones, and the feelings they gave him. Tatsumi could almost not get angry at him. Almost. He knew that the boy's heart was in the right place. He just needed to mature a bit.

Though Tatsumi did wish that Kotaro had been younger at times. Then he might have been more receptible to what Tatsumi was trying to teach and his core values might have been easier to mold. Then he might have been easier to... control.

Esdese was standing on the edge of the wall a bit ahead of them. Looking out over the capital with her arms crossed over her chest. Her long white coat draped over her shoulders. Flapping around her in the wind. Her face calm and empty.

She was accompanied by about fifteen people. Mainly warriors of her own. Members of the new imperial guard. But Tatsumi also noticed three ministers that were standing behind her. Talking to her in hushed voices. Esdese not really giving them any signs that she was listening to them. Even though she clearly was.

Tatsumi quickly identified them as survivors of the old imperial court. From the small number of politicians that had survived the black bath. Tatsumi knew their faces. They were no fans of his. They had been put in their positions by the prime minister. And had probably been loyal to him in some way. Many of those that had been working under the prime minister had approached Esdese after his death. Trying to find a new ally in the friend of a friend that she was. Now that they had lost their protection and the political scene was changing.

Esdese turned her head to the side and looked at Tatsumi and Kotaro when they started to get close.

Tatsumi straightened up and walked a bit more properly as she did. Trying to conceal his limping. But Esdese saw through his act and it showed on her face. Irritation creeping into her calm expression.

When they started to get close, she turned towards them. She looked back at the group behind her over her shoulder as she did. "Leave us." she ordered emptily. Cutting one of the ministers off mid-sentence.

The warriors from the new imperial guard immediately turned and started to leave. Forcing the ministers to follow them or remain alone with the great general. They gave some quick, courteous goodbyes and then followed after the group of soldiers.

Esdese put her hands on her hips. Looking at Tatsumi with annoyance as they finally reached her.

"Didn't I tell you to say if I was being too rough." Esdese said with bitterness when they got close. Looking completely past Kotaro who was the one closest to her. Focusing on Tatsumi.

"It didn't feel that bad yesterday." Tatsumi defended. "It was worse when I woke up. But then you had already left to get to your duties."

"Have you gotten someone to look at it?" Esdese asked. Still sounding slightly angry.

"It's just a sprain or something. It will be gone in a day or two."

"A blade will become dull if not sharpened, a body will grow slow if not trained and a wound won't heal correctly if not given the right treatment." Esdese said.

"Fine, fine. I will have someone look at it."

Esdese nodded. Even if she didn't seem satisfied at all. She was about to open her mouth to reprimand him some more but before she could, Kotaro spoke up.

"Greetings, great general Esdese!" he said with gusto. "You look just as amazing as usual."

Esdese gave the boy a slightly disinterested look. "Hello there. Little leader to be. How are your lessons coming along?"

"Just fine. Thank you for asking. I have learned a lot since the last time we spoke. I now know all abou-"

"Have you had any training in combat yet?" Esdese cut through.

"N-no.. I have not." the boy said and gave Tatsumi a blameful glare.

Tatsumi sighed and turned his eyes to Esdese. Finding her looking at him as well. Her expression skeptical. "Hey." Tatsumi said and looked back and forth between them. "The last emperor ruled successfully for many years and he sure as hell didn't know how to hold a sword." he defended.

"And how did his rule end, Tatsumi?" Esdese asked calmly. Tatsumi gave her an irritated look. The two of them had already agreed that he would handle the new emperor. She was just irritated at him for not stopping their fight in time yesterday.

"He was killed by an assassin capable of infiltrating past the entire security of the palace. I can assure you that any meager fighting skill he could have trained up would probably be useless against such an opponent."

"Well.." Kotaro said. His tone objecting. "I would actually like to get some kind of training in combat. At least the basics."

"And you will." Tatsumi said. Massaging his forehead with a hand. "But it is not prioritized right now. You will get your training in that area later."

Kotaro turned his head to Esdese. "If Tatsumi won't supply me with trainers, then maybe you can, great general Esdese?" he said with a big smile. "Maybe you can train me in combat?"

Esdese turned her skeptic eyes towards the boy. "Me? Train you? I just barely have time to train myself these days. I can't take on a student right now. And even if did have the time, it would be a huge waste of my abilities to have me teach a beginner such as yourself. A basic combat trainer can teach you the fundamentals just as well as I could. You will need to become an extremely competent warrior before it makes sense for me to train you."

Esdese did not hold back her opinion but it wasn't said with any ill-will. She was just stating the situation. Yet Tatsumi had a feeling that Kotaro had wished for a different response. He seemed determined to get some more chances of interaction with Esdese. And when she declined, he tried something that he had already tried before.

"Then maybe a teigu then?" Kotaro suggested tentatively. Hopeful eyes directed at Esdese. "A teigu would immediately boost my powers and increase my own safety as well. Then it would make more sense for you to train me, right?"

"No no no. Not a chance in the world." Tatsumi said before Esdese got a chance to give her answer. Shaking his head. His hand still on his forehead. "A teigu is a dangerous tool. You need to have almost perfect synergy with it, otherwise, it will damage you greatly. Heck, I almost have a perfect synchronization with Incursio and it still hurts me greatly when I use it fully. Esdese might not have synchronized with hers but she completely crushed and destroyed it's will and influence on her own. Most people would have been driven insane. It is too big of a risk. You are too valuable."

Esdese nodded with closed eyes. Revealing her real stance on the matter. "Fully agreed. Besides, it is a waste to give a teigu to a beginner. Better to search for someone that can use it amongst more seasoned warriors. So that it's potential can be fully realized. You should focus on perfecting your ability to rule, Kotaro. That will be your purpose."

Tatsumi could see that those words discouraged Kotaro. He could reason as to why. Young boys of his age often dreamed of becoming heroes. They wanted to prove their mettle and become great warriors. To win fame and fortune through combat and fighting. Tatsumi knew because he himself had once been the same.

But that was before he had killed his first crying father. That was before he had removed the helmet of a dead opponent to find that it was just a child. That was before his sword had killed its first unborn child. He had quickly learned about the foolishness of glamourizing combat and fighting. It was an important lesson but Tatsumi would prefer to relay it to Kotaro in a way that didn't risk traumatizing the leader to be.

But he could see how Kotaro wanted to object. Yet he couldn't really argue with Esdese's judgment. The boys teenage pride in conflict with his interest in her. Tatsumi decided to move on with the discussion before anything could happen.

"I saw that you had some of the ministers from the old imperial court here with you." He said and looked at Esdese. "What did they want?"

"They are scared. Basically." Esdese said and moved some of her hair to the side. "They can feel that they are about to lose their positions in the cabinet and want my protection from you if that happens."

"They seem to mistake me for the dead prime minister. It is their positions that are in danger. Not their lives. They will lose most of their powers but they will not be hurt. We won't even seize any of their belongings." Tatsumi said truthfully.

"So I said. But they don't seem fully convinced. And besides, there is a bigger issue here. Why are they afraid of you? They should not know of any reason why they should fear you. Unless, you have failed at your job somehow."

"Let's take this discussion later." Tatsumi said and shot a quick glance at Kotaro. Not wishing the boy to know the details of what was going on behind the scenes. "Kotaro, you should head back to the palace. Your instructor about external affairs will probably be waiting for you."

The boy nodded to Tatsumi. He turned towards Esdese. "Well then, my lady." he said and bowed down deeply to her. "I hope that we will meet soon enough. I always enjoy your company."

Esdese simply nodded. "Keep improving yourself, Kotaro. I can't wait for the day when I will be able to give some of my duties over to you."

The young man returned the nod and then started to walk away from them. Back in the direction that he and Tatsumi had been coming from. The group of warriors that had been following the two of them went after him after a little while. Leaving Tatsumi and Esdese alone.

Esdese looked at them leaving for some moments. "His predecessor was a bit cuter. Though in a pathetic sort of way. Like a dog chasing its own tail."

"We don't need him to be cute. We need him to be competent." Tatsumi said and gestured with an arm towards the road ahead of them. Inviting Esdese to walk with him. In opposite direction of the group that had just left.

"True enough."Esdese said and started to walk along the wall. Tatsumi falling in beside her. "Do you think he will serve his purpose?"

"That depends. But right now, I see no reason as to why he wouldn't be able to. He just needs to be molded a bit before he is set loose."

Esdese nodded. "Well, I leave the puppetry to you."

"For the final time, he is not going to be my puppet. He just needs to be... beaten into shape a bit."

Esdese shrugged with a smile. "Call it what you will. I have no interest in it."

"He really likes you, though." Tatsumi said and looked at her as they walked on.

"Well, I am his protector. It is nothing strange about that."

"No, I mean he **really** likes you. You are probably his first real crush."

"I understood what you meant the first time." Esdese said. Smiling without meeting his gaze. Looking at the road ahead of them. "I don't really have much interest in him outside of my duties but I noticed his interest in me the moment we first met. It's not really subtle."

"Well, he is a teenager. This whole love thing is still pretty new to him. Some tactlessness or clumsiness is to be expected."

"I think it is hard for anyone to not see that I am loyal to you when it comes to these things. So what is he hoping to achieve?" Esdese said. Looking slightly amused.

"I don't know. Maybe he is hoping for a threesome." Tatsumi tried to joke.

Esdese chuckled. "But how would that work, though?" Esdese said and looked up at the sky slightly. Holding a finger on her chin in a thinking pose. Her entertained smile staying. "It doesn't matter that he is a boy, if he touches your lips then I will kill him. Or if he touches you at all in that way, frankly. Emperor-to-be or not. So since he can not touch you and I have no interest in any physical contact with him, then how would that work? Would he just sit beside and watch as we enjoy ourselves?"

"Considering how dominant you are, this might not be obvious to you, but I think that there are few things that would be more soul-crushing for him than watching the woman he loves having sex with another man. Especially since you aren't ashamed to show how much you enjoy it."

"Ohh believe me, Tatsumi. I understand that very well." Esdese said and looked back at him. Smiling.

There was something very dark hidden in that unassuming smile and it gave Tatsumi an uncomfortable suspicion. "Esdese." he said. His voice reprimanding. "You better not be leading him on in some subtle way, in order to break his heart at a later point."

Esdese's eyes moved back the road they were walking. "It's an entertaining thought, isn't it?"

"Find some other entertainment, then." Tatsumi said, trying to sound stern. "I know you. I don't want this boy traumatized by some of your cruel little games. We need him and we need him as intact as possible."

"Some hardships might make him stronger in the long run." she said in a playful voice.

"Esdese!" Tatsumi said a little bit louder.

"Fine, fine." Esdese said and closed her eyes. Smilingly shaking her head. "I was just toying with the thought. I don't think I would ever go through with anything like that. Probably."

"Who is it that actually has to keep an eye on who here?" Tatsumi said with a tired smile.

"No but seriously, though." Esdese said and opened her eyes again. "I have clearly stated my disinterest in any subtle ways that he has tried to get closer to me. He hasn't yet worked up his courage to actually explain how he feels, but when he does, I will break his hopes properly."

"Try to not be too mean to him if he actually confesses to you. He will be in a very vulnerable spot." Tatsumi said in a worried voice.

"If he actually manages to gather his courage enough to do that, then he deserves a straight and clear answer. And that is what I will give him."

Tatsumi sighed. "Just remember that we need him. Try to take his feelings as an honest compliment, not as a chance to mess with him."

"He is still my subordinate, Tatsumi. I will not try to hurt him for having feelings for me." Esdese stated plainly. "I take care of my own."

"Ohh yeah." Tatsumi said in a sarcastic voice. "I have experienced that first hand."

Esdese noticed the sarcasm in his voice. She smiled at him and moved a little bit closer as they walked forward. Her voice condescending when she spoke. "Ohh is someone a little bit displeased with his treatment. Is someone feeling a little bit cocky?"

Tatsumi took her up on her challenge with a smile. In a step he jumped a little bit closer to her as they walked. Bumping his hip into hers. "Maybe someone deserves some better treatment."

Esdese gave him a ridiculing look. "It is the strongest one who gets to decide over the weaker. So tell me Tatsumi, are you the strongest one of us?" To emphasize her point, she shoved her shoulder into his from behind. Causing him to stumble forward. Since he was limping from the damage she had given him the day before.

He stumbled two steps before he managed to stop. Grimacing slightly from the pain in his leg. But as he started to straighten up, her arm came down and moved in under his own. Hooking their arms together.

"Here. Steady yourself against me." she said in a gentle voice and lifted his body up a little with the arm she had under his. Tatsumi looked up at her and smiled apologetically. Esdese's expression was warm and kind.

"Sorry." he said silently.

"You should tell me when you're hurting, Tatsumi. I hate it when you try to hide these things from me." she scolded. Yet her tone lacked any irritation or anger. They continued their walk like that. Tatsumi leaning a bit one Esdese. Not because he necessarily needed it but he appreciated the contact. Esdese herself just looked out over the wall they were walking on. A certain satisfaction on her face.

They walked like that in silence for a little while before Tatsumi spoke again.

"Soo.. what was it that you called me here for?"

"Ahh!" Esdese said and her face shone up a bit. "I almost forgot. I have a gift for you."

"Ohh? Where?" Tatsumi asked. Not really knowing what to make of it.

"I left him by the watch tower I came up from. We will be there in ten minutes."

Tatsumi didn't really like that she referred to his gift as "him" but he didn't say anything. Hoping for the best. In the end, it was not as bad as it could have been.

Tatsumi could see what it was long before they reached it.

The watchtower she had referred to was one of the many white towers that the wall around the capital passed through. Towers were you could get up on the wall and transport equipment up on it from. Each one of these towers had several large wooden cranes hanging out over the sides of the wall. Intended to lift things up on it with. But Tatsumi could see from far away that one of the cranes were turned out from the wall. A single object hanging on its line. On the same height level as the wall. Tatsumi could make out that it was a person pretty early on. However, his fears were slightly lightened when they got closer and he could identify the person.

The man was hanging from a rope that was tied around his arms. His body swaying slightly in the wind. He was completely naked and his skin on his entire body was the color of screaming pink.

Tatsumi quickly recognized the man as Youkan. One of the prime minister's more lowly allies. A man who had been serving as a fearmonger for the now dead minister. He had done terrible deeds on the behalf of the now gone imperial court but had also been taking some rather horrible initiatives on his own. He had been extremely loyal to the prime minister but that had basically been his only useful trait. That and the fact that he completely lacked any sort of moral compass. Otherwise, he was completely talentless.

The man seemed unconscious when the walked up to him. His head hanging down. The little white hair on its side swaying in the wind. His asquint eyes closed for the moment. When Esdese had walked them both up to edge towards the man, she gestured with the arm that wasn't holding Tatsumi in the man's direction.

"You were searching for this one, wasn't you?" she said in a happy voice. Looking at Tatsumi with well-hidden expectation.

"Yeah..." Tatsumi said in a hollow tone and looked at the man. "I was..." This had been one of the prime minister's closer allies. Those that he was still trying to remove. Preferably from existence."Where did you find him?"

"The new imperial guard brought him before me this morning. He managed to avoid us by hiding in the dungeons. Disguised as a regular torturer. He didn't dare to try and flee the city. Since he thought we would catch him if he did."

"Didn't do him much good in the long run. What have you done to his skin?" Tatsumi said in a slightly disturbed voice. Now that he was closer he could see that the man's skin was extremely pink. Boarding on red. And it was glistening in a sickening way.

"Ohh I haven't had the time to deal with people of his kind personally during these last weeks. I prefer to spend what little time I have in the torture chambers with more worthy foes. People who are actually fun and challenging to break. You could tell with a glance that this one did not have it in him." Esdese said.

"Okay. So what did you tell them to do to him then?" Tatsumi asked while he stared at the man.

"They have poured boiling water over his body a couple of times. In order to destroy his nerve endings. Now he will feel like he is burning all the time."

"He seems pretty calm, if that is the case."

"Ohh I am sure that he screamed a lot. For some time." Esdese said and smiled at the body. "But the boiling water was removed rather quickly. Even if he is still experiencing it, his body isn't taking any more damage. It is pretty reasonable that he would run out of energy sooner or later." she said and looked down at Tatsumi. Studying him for reactions.

Tatsumi just looked at the body. This entire situation made him feel uncomfortable. Not because of the damaged body in front of him. He had seen way worse displays of Esdese talent when it came to hurting people. No, his unease came from something completely different.

_Is this what I am becoming. Have I just replaced one tyranny with another._

He sighed heavily and closed his eyes. Making Esdese's smile lessen slightly.

"Esdese, tell me, what was your relationship with this man?"

"Relationship?" she asked. A bit surprised at the question. "I barely knew him. Though I know that his torture methods were sloppy and wasteful."

"I thought as much. Wasn't he your old ally?"

Esdese looked at him. "Not really. I never had anything to do with him. Beside it was you that said that he needed to die. Despite not being a real threat."

"Yeah, he did." Tatsumi said in a tired voice. "If we are going to set a new standard in the empire, then those who upheld the old one must be punished. Depending on their crimes."

He left out the fact that she had been the biggest pillar of the old empire, aside from the prime minister. He wondered if she herself thought of that. It often seemed like she didn't think of it in the same way as he did. She did what her standards and code required of her. Not thinking much about what meaning people might interpret from her actions. He looked up at her and found her staring down at him. Looking slightly bothered and confused.

"I thought that this would make you happy..." she said in a small voice.

He saw how her eyes went down for a little while. Thinking about the situation. This had not turned out as she had expected.

"You forget how different we are, Esdese. Revenge doesn't bring much joy to me. I have learned that now."

Esdese didn't say anything. It was clear that she had hoped for a different reaction. She gestured nonchalantly with one of her hands. A small piece of ice appeared in the air. Flying out over the wall and cutting off the rope that held Youkan. With the rope he was hanging by severed, the man fell down from the wall.

They could hear him scream some moments after he had left their view. Falling down past the edge. Apparently the fall woke him up from his dozing. Letting him experience his final horrifying moments as he fell hundreds of meters down from the wall.

Neither Esdese or Tatsumi looked at him as he fell. Esdese was staring down at the ground. Bothered by the fact that she had once again misjudged Tatsumi. It sometimes made her feel that she didn't understand him in the slightest. Which in turn made her feel like their relationship was one sided.

Tatsumi noticed that Esdese seemed a bit down and he could guess the reason. He stood up on his toes in order to reach her face. Kissing her lightly on the lips. Esdese noticed that he was going in for it and met him halfway. The kiss was short and light. But it served its purpose. Tatsumi moved away from her face and stood down on his heels after some moments. He smiled at her.

"But it does give me some relief to know that he has been taken care of. So thank you."

Esdese started to smile again. "I knew that it would be to your liking in some way."

"I can't say that his suffering gives me much joy." he said and looked out over the city. "But I am glad that this business has been taken care of."

Esdese nodded. Her confidence returning. "You are a predator. Just like me. I know that you don't like it, Tatsumi, but you are at the peak of the food chain. You should try and accept that it is your nature to destroy those that oppose you."

Tatsumi sighed again but was still smiling when he looked up at her. "My life would be much easier if I could just decide about how I should feel about these things."

Esdese's hand came up and played a little with his hair. Curling one of his brown locks around one of her fingers. "You should try to not let those under you affect you so easily. Hold your head a bit higher. I know of no one that could seriously challenge you except myself and a few others."

Tatsumi shook his head. "Let's go and get some food. We need to prepare for the induction ceremony of Gallus and the others. We need to decide how to handle them."

Esdese nodded. Grabbing his arm with her own once more and walked with him into the tower. Basically leading Tatsumi with her.

* * *

The funeral pyre was lit in the early evening but it still burned on long into the night. Far past the sunset and the last light of the day.

This funeral procedure was held in a reclusive glade. Surrounded by conifers and pines. A bit away from the army's main encampment. Though the sound of it could still be heard in the distance.

Many of these pyres had been lit after the battle between Night raid and Makeias. On both sides. But most of them had been done the weeks after the fighting. None had waited this long to hold the mourning ceremony. It had been held off simply because of the wishes of the dead one's dearest person. And his will had been respected. Wave's will.

Now he was standing in the front of the small group that had gathered to pay their respect. Staring into the fire as the flames engulfed and swallowed the woman he loved. Her body wrapped up in cloth in order to spare the onlookers from the grim sight. The body delivered to the pyre like that by Tom-Tom and his men. Wave's face was empty of emotions. As he watched her disappear in the bonfire, he felt a part of himself disappear. Like he was dying with her.

Yet no tears came to him. No feelings surged. He just felt dead inside.

The group stood in silence and watched as the fire burned into the night. But after a long while, the flames started to die and people started to leave. Moving back towards the camp after walking up to Wave and giving him their condolences.

It didn't take too long until there were only a few of them left behind him. The last one to leave was Tom-Tom. Giving him a hug in an uncharacteristically big display of compassion before he left. The old man feeling that he had failed the younger generation. But then Tom-Tom left as well. Leaving him alone with the glowing embers in the small glade.

He stood and stared at them for a long while. He felt like he couldn't leave this glade. A part of him would forever be left here and he didn't think that he could move on without it. He couldn't leave her here. He felt like this was the only place left in the world where he could still exist as the person he had once been. He felt like if he left this glade, he would become a worse version of himself. He would be leaving behind the parts of him that he was proud of.

So after a while, he sat down on the ground. Staring into the glowing cinders with his arms wrapped around his knees. His face as empty as he felt inside. He didn't know how long he had been sitting like that when the last person finally arrived to the funeral.

Makeias walked out of the darkness under the trees. Slowly walking into the glade. Wave couldn't tell if the man had been hiding there for a long time or not. He didn't care. He couldn't even be bothered to turn around or greet the general. He simply kept staring into the remains of the fire.

Makeias stopped for some moments after he had walked into the opening. He looked at Wave and took a deep breath before he walked up to him.

"How are you holding up, Wave?" he said in a very somber tone.

Wave didn't answer him. He just kept staring into the glowing ashes. His eyes empty. Makeias waited for an answer for a little while. Then he slowly sat down beside him. Looking at the cinders as well. It took a long while before he spoke again.

"You can't stay here forever, you know?" he said silently.

"Yet I can't leave either." Wave said without looking away from what remained of the fire. "So I guess I will stay here. Until time takes me."

Makeias studied Wave but his face was as empty as his voice. He guessed that this was a case of survivor's guilt. "You cannot blame yourself for this, Wave. This was not your fault."

"Spare me."

"It was not your fault." Makeias repeated. "We struggle against it as much as we can, but these things happen. No one can control everything."

"She would not be dead if she hadn't followed me in my betrayal of the empire. She only went down this path because of me. She only wanted to be with me. I should have shown her the same devotion. Instead of leading her into a more dangerous way of life than we were already living."

"Maybe." Makeias said. "But we don't know that. She might have met a worse fate if she had stayed with the empire. We simply don't know. Life is too chaotic and complicated to place blame like that."

Wave did not seem affected by his words. "She deserved more from me than this. She followed me. Helped me. Cared for me. And yet I only rushed forward. Pursuing my own hopes and ambitions. Leaving her to try and pursue me. I should have dedicated more of my life to her."

"You are only thinking about it like that because things turned out this way. You have lived your life like you wanted. As did she. She choose to follow you. She made her own choice. And her choice was you. She was aware of how you lived and she still made that choice. You are looking down on the way she choose to live by thinking that every choice that ends in sadness is a mistake."

Finally he managed to get an reaction from Wave. The other man turning his eyes over to meet his. A bit of misguided irritation in them. "And what would you know of mistakes, Makeias? You always have the right words prepared. You always know what to do. You never let anything affect you on a personal level."

That actually made Makeias chuckle quietly. The sound of it joyless. Wave just looked at him.

"I am not the man I once was, Wave. I wasn't always this conniving and false. I used to be way more straightforward. Way more true to myself." he said and smiled at the younger man. "I used to be a lot like you, Wave."

"But you are not that anymore." he answered bitterly. Looking at Makeias as his face grew more empty again. The older man's smile sad and tired.

"No. I am not. Because the one dearest to me died. A long time ago." he said and looked down at the coals again.

That actually lit something in Wave's eyes. A spark of interest. "Who was it?"

Makeias looked up at the starry night sky. "She was a subordinate of mine. Beautiful. Tall and proud with long blond hair and green eyes. And I loved her more than anything."

"What killed her?" Wave asked. Way more in the present than he had been some moments before.

"I don't know. To be honest. The man she married found her after a particularly bad battle at the borders. She had bled to death from a wound in the chest. We never learned what caused it"

Wave just looked at Makeias for some moments. He didn't know if he wanted to hear it. But he felt a need to understand this more. "So she loved someone else?"

"Yeah. My best friend had the honor of getting her love." Makeias said. His voice small and silent. "I never told her my feelings. Since they were happy together. But now both of them are long dead. He gave his life to save mine. Long after we had buried the woman that we both loved together."

Makeias turned his face back to Wave. "And now their daughter is dead as well. She gave her life to save Tom-Tom."

The realization was visible on Wave's face. "Liza..."

Makeias nodded. "She was one of the two children of the love of my life. And the daughter of my best friend. And now I have buried her as well."

"Makeias..." Wave said. Compassion in his voice.

Makeias turned his eyes to the sky again. "These days, I find myself more living for the dead than anything else. I have promises to fulfill. I have sworn to stop this spiral of war and hate. To bring stability. And no matter what I do, no matter what cruelties I commit. They are done for that single purpose."

He looked over at Wave again. "But I would prefer it if you didn't turn into me, Wave."

Wave was silent for some moments before he spoke. Just looking at Makeias.

"I don't think I will become anything ever again, general. I don't think I will move on from this." he said and put his head on his knees. "I think this is it for me."

Makeias looked at Wave. Pity on his face. He needed to bring the young man out of this. "We can't lose your contributions to our cause, Wave. We need your power."

"If this was a choice for me, Makeias, then I wouldn't be telling you these things." he said into his knees. "This is a struggle. Not a choice."

"I know, Wave. Believe me, I know." he said and decided to go for a different strategy. "But will you just give up and let the empire go on with its horrible practices. Will you let all this horror go on? Now that you have had a full taste of its consequences. You are strong, Wave. You have been privileged with a life that has allowed you to grow strong. But that privilege also decides your responsibility to this world, Wave."

"I am not strong enough for this, Makeias." Wave said. His voice unsteady. "Not strong enough to endure this."

"So will you just let this evil go unopposed then?" Makeias tried once more. "Will you let Akame get away with this? Will you let Kurome go unavenged?

"And live on only for hate?" Wave said. Despair filling his face. "I .. I.. can't do that.. I can't live like that.."

He looked up at Makeias. His face filled with hopelessness. Almost as if he was searching for help. "I don't think I can survive this, Makeias." he said. His voice trembling. "I can't... She was so much to me.. I don't think I can live on without her. I can't move on from that. How can I leave her behind?"

Makeias hand came up and placed itself on his back. "You just answered your own question, Wave. You can't go on without her."

Wave's expression looked a bit puzzled under all the pain.

"You loved her so much, Wave, and she loved you." Makeias said. "You can't move on without her. Loving her has made you into what you are. So she will always be a part of you. You will take her with you. Wherever you go. You will carry her dreams and love as you move forward. Just as I have done for those I have parted ways with."

And finally, the tears started coming for Wave. Pouring out of his eyes once more. His teeth clenched.

Makeias' hand rubbed his back and then moved out in between them. Offering it's open palm to him. "I need you for this, Wave. I can't do this without you. Stay with us. And help me make a world where there will be no more deaths like Kurome and Liza."

Wave looked down at the offered hand and then back up at Makeias face. Then he grabbed the hand with his own. Squeezing it. "Never again."

Makeias nodded. "Never again."

Wave looked at Makeias for some moments and then covered up his eyes with one of his hands. Moving his face to the side. Starting to sob in earnest as the tears trailed down his face.

Makeias hand moved up and squeezed his shoulder. As he slowly stood up. "It cuts deep. I know, Wave. But don't hide from it. Face the pain head on. Mourn with every fiber of your being. Be proud of your pain. It is the proof that the love was real."

He squeezed the younger man's shoulder one last time and then let go of it. Turning around and walking out of the glade. Leaving Wave to his mourning. The younger man crying loudly in front of the ashes.

Makeias walked for a long time. Moving back towards the camp. He passed the guards at its entry and walked towards the center of the camp. Where his headquarters were placed. He passed through the supply area of the camp as he did. A part that was only filled with crates and boxes. When he had moved to a part where no one was watching, he suddenly lashed out.

Without warning he started to kick at a small wooden chest that was closest to him. Kicking at it in such a frenzy and outrage that the chest was soon completely destroyed. When there was nothing left of it but wooden splinters and Makeias was panting heavily, he finally stopped. He straightened up and took some deep breaths. When he felt like he had gotten his cool back, he started to walk again. His own anguish calmed for now.

The underlying anger over that few things ever seemed to go as he planned. And pain coming from the knowledge that it was not Akame who had killed Kurome.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**I apologize for the delay. I have talked to several of you readers and I am starting to think that I should change how I write these release dates. Since I rarely manage to meet them these days. Maybe I should start writing them in broader terms. Like which week it will be released or something like that. Or maybe I should skip them entirely. **

**Write if you have an opinion on whether I should skip them entirely or not. Depending on what people write, I will write a ne w date on the top of this chapter in a day or two.**

**Now we have started what is probably going to be the final arc of this story. Even if we are still just in the stage of framing how the arc will go on from here. **

**As always, thanks a lot for reading. Your feedback and comments are literally what keeps this going. Your engagement in this tale is very appreciated. And while I have this story planned out in the larger strokes, your opinions might change how the details play out. They have done so before.**

**Until next time, take care of each other.**


	41. Pragmatic survivors and small battles

**Really need to thank you all for all the feedback between the chapters. Has been really amazing. **

**I had to cut out a part in the middle because things were getting too long. So this chapter is solely focused on the palace.**

**The next chapter will be released on 11/5**

* * *

**Pragmatic survivors and small battles.**

The guards saluted Tatsumi as he passed by them. Walking through the open gate that they were posted by.

"Head administrator!" they called out in unison.

Tatsumi nodded to them as he passed them by. He recognized their faces but did not know their names.

"Head administrator, huh?" he said silently to himself. Still getting used to the title. It was the designation that Esdese had made up for him. The title itself not referring to any of his duties. Simply created to make him a part of the government.

He walked through the doors and entered the inner garden that he was heading for. The gray sky visible above. The inner garden itself was far above ground level. He could feel how the wind was growing stronger. He could tell that harsher weather was coming in over the capital.

He found her pretty quickly.

Esdese was sitting by a large glass table on a very small hill. Slightly overlooking the vegetation around it. She had her usual attire. Her long coat draped over the chair she was sitting in. The only chair there.

She didn't react to him when he walked up to her. Even if he was certain that she had felt his arrival to the garden. Her eyes were focused on the folder she was currently reading through.

The entire table was filled up with similar folders and papers. Some of them stacking rather high up. Her hat was lying on top of one of those stacks. Some pens and stamps were also strewn out over all the papers.

"I can see that you are enjoying your favorite pastime." he tried to joke as he got close to the table. Esdese didn't even favor him with a glance for that.

Tatsumi walked up to her. He could almost feel her cold irritation. Even though she wasn't showing it on her face. "That much, huh?" he said in a bit more compassionate tone. Putting a hand on her shoulder. Slowly stroking it. Her sharp eyes moved up to his when he touched her. She held his gaze for some moments and then moved her eyes down and continued to read.

Tatsumi looked around a bit as he continued to stroke her shoulder. "It is probably going to rain pretty soon."

"Yeah. It is." she answered plainly.

"So why did you decide to do this out here in the garden then?"

"Because I have spent the last two days inside my office. I have even been forced to have the food delivered to me since I haven't had time to go and get anything. I refuse to spend another whole day there. Even if this works still needs to be done."

"Is it really that bad?" Tatsumi said. "It's just some paperwork. Ok, maybe a lot of paperwork. But I mean... you actually manage to find joy in the most horrible things. I can't imagine that mere paperwork could be taxing for you."

Esdese looked up at him again. Then her eyes moved to the sky. "If I wanted, I could jump out of this garden and down into the streets of the capital with a single leap. If I attach some ice to my limbs, I can fly. I can race at speeds too fast for most people to even perceive. I can even bend time itself to my will." she said and put one of her elbows on the table. Resting her chin in its hand. "And how do I get to spend my time with these powers? By sitting in a room and staring at paper all day."

Tatsumi smiled at her. She was and had always been such a thrill seeker. She needed some excitement now and then. A lot of her love for fighting simply came from her desire for that. He moved some of the paper away with his arm and sat down on the table. Since there was only one chair there.

"It won't be much longer now. The more ministers we get in place, the more of your duties can be reassigned away from you."

Esdese looked at him. A bit of anger ni her gaze. "I had hoped that you would find worthy candidates for these positions quicker than you have."

"It would go faster if you didn't reject most of those that I present." Tatsumi said and smiled at her.

"You have your own ideas of what makes a good leader. Just as I have mine. And I am the one with the final decision." Esdese said. Her eyes moving down to her papers again. "On that topic, do you have any new ones for the evening assembly?"

"Yeah. A couple. I actually think that some of them will be to your liking this time around. But we have another issue we need to decide on before the meeting."

Esdese put down the folder she was holding on the table. "I wondered why you had come by to see me."

"Can't I just visit you because I want to see you?" Tatsumi said back. Partly dreading the discussion to come.

"I want you near me as much as possible, Tatsumi. But right now, we both have a lot on our hands. So I figured you would at least have an excuse." she said and crossed her arms over her chest. Looking at him with an empty expression. Waiting for him to begin even if she knew what he was going to say.

Tatsumi sighed and decided to meet the issue head on. "We need to decide about what to do with Gallus at the meeting this evening."

"I thought that we had already discussed this." Esdese said and gave him a disinterested look.

This was how they had been handling these meetings and decisions during the last months. Usually talking and deciding about all the important issues before the meetings took place. So that they could work together during the assemblies towards their common goals. The rest of the people attending the meetings usually unable to oppose them both at the same time. Tatsumi and Esdese deciding about which route to take in private behind closed doors. Before anyone else got any say in it.

However, there were sometimes certain issues that the two of them disagreed on. In most cases they just managed to compromise to some degree. Mostly in Esdese's favor but not exclusively so. They both realized that it was important that they were united so they usually found some way to make it agreeable to the both of them. So that they could crush any opposition together.

However, this was one of the few issues that were problematic for them. Their different ideas of a solution not compatible in the slightest. And both of them knew it.

"We didn't really reach a solution that time. We need to figure something out."

"I decided on what I thought was best." Esdese said and shrugged lightly. "And I am the one who ultimately makes the call. Am I not?"

"Ahh come on. Don't be like that." Tatsumi said in a complaining tone. "We need to stand together. Let's talk some more."

Esdese just looked at him for what felt like a long while. Meeting his determined expression with a much more disinterested one. But then she finally closed her eyes. "I am listening."

Tatsumi nodded to himself. "Gallus should not be a part of the new imperial military. He symbolizes too much of the old empire. He can't be a part of our new one. It will make it seem like nothing has changed."

"Even if I accept your statement about us looking too much like what we used to be," Esdese said while her eyes remained closed. "you are still basically telling me to punish a good soldier and warrior for nothing but his loyalty."

"The man's loyalties changes to what is convenient." Tatsumi argued. Way more energetic about this issue than Esdese was. "First, he was loyal to Budo. Then immediately changed sides to you. Throwing his old allegiance to the wind. And now he has condemned the prime minister that he earlier worked so closely with. Simply because it was the easiest thing to do. He is not loyal. He is pragmatic."

"He is a survivor." Esdese said and opened her eyes. Looking at Tatsumi. "I can respect people who fight to survive. And sometimes that fight takes different forms. You say that he is pragmatic as if it was an insult. I am not sure if I see it that way."

"How do we not know that he will just betray us as soon as our side isn't favored anymore?"

"We avoid that by always being the stronger side." Esdese said. Sounding like it was obvious. "If he betrays us in order to survive, then doesn't that simply mean that we were too weak?"

"So do you prefer to have subordinates that will just switch sides as soon as you are dead?" Tatsumi said.

Esdese expression grew a bit harder. Getting a bit more serious. "That is what I did for you, Tatsumi." she said. Her tone a lot more intense. "If I would have held loyalties to the dead, then I would have killed you when I found you drenched with the prime minister's blood. You yourself made me realize that it made little sense for my ideals to force me to do that."

Tatsumi almost winced at her argument. Fully realizing how she reasoned. And he had a hard time arguing against her without undermining the reasoning that had led them to where they were. He couldn't go against his own words on this. And Esdese had picked up on that inconsistency in his reasoning.

Esdese eyes drilled into him as he searched for another way to reason around her. When he didn't answer immediately, she spoke up. "Tatsumi, if you simply not want him reinstated because of personal reasons, then you should say so. And then I will explain my reasoning again. In the end, he will be a part of the imperial military. You know that you don't have a good case. I do not mind you arguing against it. But I don't appreciate how you try to bend and manipulate my sense of loyalty to further you own goals."

Tatsumi looked at her for some moments and then sighed heavily. He leaned forward a bit and put his elbows on his knees. Turned a little bit away from Esdese. Looking out at the vegetation. "You are always a hard one to deal with, Esdese."

"Right back at you." Esdese said and reached over the table. Picking up the folder again. "Besides Tatsumi, your argument about our image is flawed as well. Gallus is seen as one of the most, if not the most, heroic part of the older empire. Even our greatest enemies look up to his valiance. He has saved thousands of lives with his actions. Often in the form of such unnecessary acts and decisions that you usually love so much." She said and opened the folder. "I am the most feared leader in the entire empire, if not the world. And even I find it hard to command as much respect as he does."

"Fear and respect are not always the same thing." Tatsumi said and shot her a glance.

"No. But they can often achieve the same results." She said and started to read through the folder. "Now tell me, Tatsumi. Why don't you want this man that you would usually call a hero as a part of our organization?"

Tatsumi looked at her as she read. Waiting for some moments before he said what they both already knew. "Because he rapes children, Esdese."

Esdese looked up at him. A rather warm smile one her face. "There you go. Now you are being true to yourself. I already knew that this was the real reason for your objections. Why didn't you just say this in the first place?"

Tatsumi looked slightly defeated. "Because you don't care." he said slowly.

"Correct. I don't care at all. But don't try to be so manipulative when your true motivation is so obvious."

"Don't try to downplay the force that you are. Being manipulative is sometimes the only way to argue with you." he said and smiled faintly at her.

Esdese's smile was much warmer than his. "Don't think that I am unaware of how manipulative and scheming you are, Tatsumi. I know that that is a part of your strength. But sometimes you fail as well. Sometimes you fall short. And this is one of those cases where you should have realized that being manipulative wouldn't get you anywhere."

"Sometimes you have to try. Even if defeat seems certain." he said. "Since I know that I can't win you over with my true reason."

Esdese's head tilted a little bit to the side. A bit of interest finding it's way into her expression. "Ok. So tell me a bit about what Gallus has been doing. I know the gist of it but I can guess that you have some interesting details."

Tatsumi sighed again and looked up at the skies. "I had hoped that Gallus would stop his... monstrous acts when he returned to the capital. That they were some kind of outlet for some of the horrors of war. But he did not. He is still the same monster. Under all the charades."

"How often?" Esdese questioned. Mostly just sounding curious.

"Twice a month. Or something like that. They are mostly homeless and abandoned children. Taken from the slums of the capital. Mostly boys but sometimes girls. Usually in their early teens. Twelve to fourteen years old, usually. One can imagine that they are quite easy to lure in with the right rewards. Most are delivered to him through the religious organization that he is a leader in."

Esdese nodded. "Makes sense. And then they kill them afterward to avoid witnesses?"

"No. We thought that for a start but some insider information has told us otherwise. His people only dispose of the bodies. They are usually raped to death." Tatsumi said with bitterness. He looked at Esdese. "Can you really not understand how wrong this is?"

"I can understand that the kids and those who cared about them think this is wrong. Doesn't mean that I relate to them." Esdese said. Her eyes once again returning to the papers in her folder. "If they were my allies or somewhat connected to me, then I might have had to act. But they aren't. They hold no value to me. No reason for me to care about their fate."

"Can't you just see that this is appalling on some basic human level? He rapes kids until the point that they die from the injuries." Tatsumi said in a pained voice. Always hoping that he one day would get the answer he hoped for. Even if he deep down knew that he never would.

"Not really. We all have needs and urges that we act on. I do as well. And I have procured the solution to my needs." she said while her eyes remained on the paper. Her hand came up and lightly patted his butt a couple of times. To make it clear what she meant. "I can't really fault him for pursuing his needs. And since they don't hurt me and mine, I have no reason to stop him. Or judge him for his behavior."

"So what if a fate like that would befall Gallus. Would you care then?"

"If it had come to a point where I held some loyalty to him then sure. Then I would stop it. Otherwise, no. He would simply have been too weak to not fall prey to someone stronger than him. Unable to handle the challenges his life gave him. Just as these children did."

"What about me then?" Tatsumi said. In desperation, he tried trying to take the argument to its most extreme point."What if you found out that I had been raped to death?"

Esdese looked up from the paper and gave him a ridiculing smile. "And who would be able to do that? You are one of the strongest warriors in the world. I don't even think I could rape you if you were able to fight back with your full abilities. I could certainly defeat you but probably not without having to kill you before getting to the... _nice parts_. You are too strong to allow such treatment. Even for me."

"Yeah, yeah. But we are talking theoretically here."

Esdese fingers came up and grabbed her chin as she looked up at the gray sky. "I don't know how I would act. You are a very special case for me, Tatsumi. You belong to me in a way no other subordinate ever will. I almost see you as a part of myself. So an attack on you is an attack on me. So I don't really know. I think a lot of things would be destroyed if that happened. I would probably set most of the empire aflame in pure vengeance." she said and shrugged. "But I simply don't know."

"Can't you relate to other people having such feelings over what Gallus is doing?" Tatsumi tried.

"No." she said. Her answer clear and quick. "I can understand that they have them. But I don't feel any need to sympathize or help them. If they are too weak to solve it themselves then that is simply how it is. I have no reason to care."

Tatsumi sighed defeatedly. Looking down on his hands. He had already known that this was probably how it would go. They both stayed silent for a long while before Esdese spoke again.

"Gallus will be a part of the imperial military."

"Fine." Tatsumi said in an exhausted voice and stroked his face with his hand. "But if I find the slightest reason to, I will finish him myself."

"Not without my permission." Esdese said in a harder tone. Refusing to give him any ground when it came to these things.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Tatsumi said. Not having the energy to argue with her over such trivial things.

Esdese nodded. She put the folder down again and stretched her arms over her head. Yawning slightly as she did. She was done with that folder but there were a lot more left. She put her arms across each other under her chest after that. She smiled at Tatsumi. She looked kind of drowsy but still kind of satisfied.

"What?" Tatsumi said and looked back at her. "Are you that happy that you won the argument?"

"No. I already knew how it would end before it started. It's just nice to have you here."

"Even when we disagree?"

"Always." she said and moved her smiling face a bit closer to him. Leaning forward a little. "I should force you to just sit beside me when I work. So that I can have you near me."

Tatsumi couldn't help but smile a little. "I wouldn't be able to get much done then, would I?"

Esdese had her arms crossed over each other just under her chest. It emphasized her already large breasts quite a bit. Tatsumi didn't know if that was her intention but he couldn't stop himself from giving her bosom a quick glance. Which Esdese noticed easily. Her drowsy smile widening.

"I think you wouldn't mind." she said and bent forward even more. Given him an even better view of her cleavage as she moved her face a bit closer to him. Looking up at him since he was sitting on the table and she in the chair.

Tatsumi couldn't stop himself from reacting to her seductive display. It didn't matter how many times he had seen her naked. How many times he had felt up her breasts or how many times they had joined together. She still made him react like this so easily. And somehow, she could always tell when she had him.

Esdese looked up at him. A certain triumph in her tired expression. "Wanna fight?"

Tatsumi smiled down at her. "Fight and fornicate. Are those the only two things that you enjoy doing with me?"

"Isn't that what boys enjoy doing?" Esdese joked. Her exhausted smile staying.

"My gender does not make me a sadist, Esdese. Sorry to disappoint." Tatsumi said and smiled back at her.

She continued to smile as she slowly rose up. She stood up in front of Tatsumi. Reversing their height difference. "You seem to like the other part well enough." she said and moved her hands down to his head

"Well.. Can't really deny that." Tatsumi said and returned her gaze as her hands came down and cupped his face. They caressed his face a bit back and forth. Stroking it and sometimes squeezing it slightly as she smiled down at him.

"I kinda want to hurt you right now, though." she said casually. Her words at odds with her soft voice and her hands smooth and tender treatment of him.

Tatsumi raised an eyebrow at her. "What set of that spark? I thought we were having a perfectly normal discussion right now."

"I don't know. I just want to hear some of your cute little yells." Esdese said nonchalantly as she continued to stroke him. Her hands' delicate touch had suddenly become very foreboding. "Maybe it is because I won our argument. Maybe my instincts feel that a victory should be accompanied by making the loser suffer."

"Hard to hold any civil argument with you if that is the case." Tatsumi said and smiled grimly.

"I was only talking about what I felt like doing. Nothing more."

"So you aren't going to hurt me right now?" Tatsumi asked. Keeping the same nonchalant tone as she did.

"Well, I didn't say that either." she said. One of her hands moved up and played a little with his hair. Wrapping his brown locks around her fingers.

Tatsumi sighed slightly, even if his smile stayed. One of his hands came up and started to slowly stroke the side of her chest. On her side. From her stomach to her arm. "Not right now, ok? I still have a lot of things to get done today."

Esdese tilted her head to the side a little bit. "Hmm? Anything that can't be postponed by a word from the head of state?"

"Duty over leisure." Tatsumi said. "That has always been your way, has it not? It's just that those two doesn't align for you right now."

"I have been working diligently for months. Don't you think I deserve some kind of reward every now and then?" she said. The hand that had been playing with his hair slowly started to grab a hard hold on it.

Tatsumi moved his hand up and stroked her chin for a second. "Soon. Not just now, okay?" he said. He was careful to make it sound like a suggestion.

Her hand's grip didn't loosen. But she was not getting rougher. Keeping her hold on his hair as she kept stroking his face. They remained like that for a rather long while. Tatsumi was unsure if the pain was coming or not. But then the first raindrops started to fall down on them. Both of them felt how it started to trickle down. Slowly intensifying.

Esdese's expression didn't change. She just kept looking at his face. Then she finally spoke. "Tonight then." It was not a question.

"No tools. I have a lot of work tomorrow as well." Tatsumi said calmly as her hand's grip on his hair loosened.

Esdese let go off him and shrugged. "As you wish. It's actually more enjoyable to use my hands when it is you."

_And when I can easily get physical contact with you, it is much easier to distract you from your original intentions. _, Tatsumi thought and smiled at her.

Esdese picked up her cap and the folder she had been reading through. "Bring all the papers to our apartments before the rain ruins them, will you?" she said and started to walk away. Despite her tone, it was clearly an order. "I have other things that require my attention."

"Right..." Tatsumi said with light bitterness and looked at her back as she left. He looked at the table as the rain continued to intensify. All the paper on the large table probably weighing as much as him.

* * *

"I will have you back in my military, Gallus." Esdese's voice called out loudly in an official tone. "The legions you used to control will be back under your command. As you will be under mine. I will make you into a general once again."

Her voice echoed out through the large hall.

Esdese was sitting at the top of the large podium in the emperor's main throne room and audience chamber. Esdese herself was sitting on the throne itself.

A lot of nobles disliked that. It had been suggested that they should build a smaller seat on its side which she could occupy during these meetings. But Esdese didn't want to hear it. She was in control and her rule was pragmatic. There would be no such waste of resources. She didn't really care about which seat she held. But neither did she care about those that disliked that she sat on the throne of the royal family.

As far as she was concerned, the royal family should be grateful that her beautiful butt was occupying their rather uncomfortable seat until their line returned to power.

Tatsumi was standing slightly behind the large throne. Looking down at the general with concealed detest. Members of the new imperial guard standing a bit behind him and Esdese.

Gallus was kneeling at the base of the stairs that led up to where they were sitting. Wearing his black and white garbs. His bald head shining as he looked at the floor.

The room had two large galleries on each side of the red carpet Gallus was kneeling on. The carpet that led out of the room. The galleries slightly turned towards the throne. Meant for the imperial court. Now they were almost empty, though. With the exception of a few people.

One of the two galleries only had one watcher. Kotaro was sitting in the front row in it. There to watch and learn in preparation for the day when he would hopefully be taking Esdese's place on the throne. He was looking at Gallus with wide eyes. Tatsumi sometimes had to remind himself that the boy had been living in a small farming village until just recently. People like Esdese and Gallus were legends where he came from. Tatsumi had not yet found a good time to tell the boy about Gallus' true nature.

The other gallery had eight occupants. Five of them were what remained out of the old imperial court. The remnants of the prime minister's rule and the survivors of the black bath. They were sitting on the highest aisle of the gallery. Looking down at what was happening but rarely saying anything at all. They had no real power at the moment either way. Esdese was in complete control. The other three were sitting in one of the corners in the lowest aisle of seats. In their dedicated places.

Those three that were sitting at the bottom of the gallery were the few people that Esdese and Tatsumi had both been able to agree to put in minister positions. Tatsumi was very proud to have all three of them as a part of the new court.

Two of them were a bit younger. In their thirties and forties. Politicians that had opposed the old imperial court and prime minister to the largest extent possible without being regarded as traitors. They had been keeping a low profile during the old rule but Tatsumi was confident that their hearts were in the right place. Even if it had been harder to convince Esdese that they were the right people.

The third one was an older man. Already in his seventies. He had a long white beard, no hair on his head and hard gray eyes. The old man was the one that Esdese had approved of the most. He had always been very open with his detest of the prime ministers over the years. He had spearheaded many political attempts to reduce the prime minister's power. And even if he had no fighting skills whatsoever, he had survived several assassination attempts through his years. Tatsumi had a creeping suspicion that Esdese might have sent one or two of them herself on the prime minister's behalf.

When Tatsumi had suggested his name to her, she had taken the old man in for an interview herself. Tatsumi had been extremely tense during that entire conversation. Esdese had grilled the man hard but he had not backed down. He had been so blunt about how much he despised the imperial military and how very responsible he thought Esdese was for the ruin of the nation. There were several occasions were Tatsumi was convinced that Esdese was going to kill him for his words. But she didn't.

When she had talked with the old man for almost a whole hour she had simply risen up and offered him a hand with a smile. Complimenting him on his bravery. Telling him that she wanted his spine and resolve in the new empire.

But he and the other two were the only new ministers that Esdese had accepted. There were almost thirty more vacant positions. And that was not even including the five old members that Tatsumi intended to remove from the court.

Gallus slowly rose from his kneeling once Esdese had finished. He looked up at her. "I will do everything in my power to make this empire into the great nation that it once was. I will not disappoint you, great general Esdese."

Esdese 's expression was empty. "I will expect you to be ready to take your first new orders tomorrow morning. Get your troops and chain of command in order until then."

The large man saluted her. "It shall be done."

Esdese nodded towards the doors. "Dismissed."

Gallus turned around and started to leave the room.

"General." Tatsumi called out as he started to walk. "The people are well aware of how much you care for them. They will teach their children how kind you are. No need to do everything yourself." he called out calmly. An underlying coldness to his tone.

Gallus looked at Tatsumi over his shoulder. His expression as humble and kind as always. "Of course, head administrator." he said. Putting some weight behind the title as he said it. "I have heard that you have taken quite a lot of tasks upon yourself lately. Don't overexert yourself." he continued. The words said in such a friendly tone that Tatsumi almost started to doubt the very obvious jab at what he was doing behind the scenes.

He was about to retort but Esdese gave general Gallus a single wave of one of her hands. Telling him to leave with the gesture. Before Tatsumi managed to answer. The big man turned his head forward and walked out of the room.

"Don't shout out things that we haven't talked about during my hearings, Tatsumi." Esdese said casually and rested he head down against the knuckles of one of her hands. It's elbow resting on the giant seat's armrest. She didn't sound angry or irritated. It was just a nonchalant order.

"Roger." Tatsumi said in the same casual tone. "The next one up is Dousen." he said as he read from a clipboard in his hand.

Esdese looked at him. "I don't remember his appointment."

"That's because he didn't have one. I don't really know how he got on today's list. He wasn't on it yesterday."

"Let me guess. He has replaced someone." Esdese said and looked down at the hall again.

"Yeah probably. Though I can't really remember who is gone from the list. Probably someone he just bribed to give him their spot."

Esdese shrugged. "Fine. Let's see what he wants. Maybe it will be a bit entertaining." she said and straightened up slightly. A little bit more interested suddenly. "Call him in."

At Tatsumi's announcement, the guards opened up the doors and let the next attendee in.

Dousen was not a man that seemed to operate like most others did, Tatsumi reminded himself as the man walked into the room. Seeming completely relaxed.

He was not exactly a well-trained man. Keeping his hands folded over his big belly. Concealed by the very long arm sleeves of his attire. He was wearing clothes that were a bit more classical for the old business men of the country. Long robes of fine garments. His black hair tied up in something akin to a samurai's knot.

He looked up at Tatsumi and Esdese as he approached the end of the stairs. No sign of any fear or nervousness in his eyes. Tatsumi had quickly learned that this was a cold and calculated man. Only driven by his greed for the materialistic. To an almost unnatural degree. His mind did not really seem to function in the same way as most others. Tatsumi had a feeling that to this man, everything and everyone besides himself were just numbers and statistics. Profits and losses.

Esdese leaned forward a slight bit as she looked down at him. "You grow fatter every time I see you, Dousen." she called down to him. Not really meaning it as anything more than an observation but not caring if he took it as an insult.

"Yes, I have put on some more kilos. While I can see that you are keeping your form without any trouble." the older man said. Not a hint of emotion in his voice.

"If you spend your days training and fighting, you will keep your form strong. Whether you like it or not." she called out and leaned back in the giant seat. "But I will admit that my current duties have prevented me from honing myself to the degree that I want."

Tatsumi gave her an mocking look behind her back. She had complained about this to him the other day. While Tatsumi had massaged her feet in their bedroom. Annoyed that her duties had made her weaker. However after a few words, Tatsumi had quickly realized that what she meant by that was not the same as most did. Esdese definition of weaker was when her growth in power slowed down its speed slightly. She was still getting stronger every day. Just not to the extent she was used to.

"What is your business with us, Dousen?" she asked in an official tone.

The man looked up at them for some moments before he spoke. It hadn't escaped either Tatsumi or Esdese that he was the first one today to not kneel down in front of them by the end of the stairs. Tatsumi didn't really care and neither did Esdese. Mainly because she could feel that this man did not have the slightest rebellious or challenging vein in him.

"I have come here because some of my costs in regards to the missions you have assigned to me have been larger than we you first thought." he said in the same empty voice.

Esdese sighed and leaned her head back against the seat. Waving with her hand towards Tatsumi. She couldn't be bothered with these kinds of minor internal issues.

Tatsumi stepped forth so that he was standing by her side instead of behind her. "What costs are we talking about exactly, Dousen?"

Tatsumi held no love for this man. In fact, he had the full intention of taking everything he had away from him before this was over. He was, however, not in a good position to do so at the moment. For whatever else you might say about the man, Dousen was splendid at economics. Almost having a natural instinct about these things. And as such he had been extremely useful after the prime minister's death. Taking care of many of the economic issues and tasks on their behalf.

Esdese had actually asked Tatsumi if they shouldn't just appoint him as the minister of finance but Tatsumi had refused so she had dropped it. Leaving the job of bringing forth candidates to him. She herself not terribly interested in it. Even if she did reserve the decision of who was acceptable or not in the end.

Tatsumi and Dousen talked for almost ten minutes before the matter was settled. Resulting in Tatsumi once again agreeing to give Dousen the increased resources he wanted. Having to give up to Dousen's vaster knowledge about these things. Not being educated enough on these issues to be able to deny him what he asked for. Even if he had a suspicion that a big part of it would end up in Dousen's own pocket. One way or another.

The businessman bowed and turned around. Walking out of the room in the same calm pace that he had entered it with. Tatsumi looked at him. When he had left the room he spoke in a low voice to Esdese. "I will take everything from that man. Sooner or later."

Esdese looked up at him. Brought out from her bored state of listening to them prattle on about economic details. Her face shining up with an interested smile. "Ohh, do you know some juicy things about this man that I don't? Does he also have some kind of weird or exotic hobby?" she asked. Sounding more intrigued than bothered.

"Not that I know of, no." Tatsumi said. A bit annoyed that she would only allude to Gallus' child raping as weird or exotic. "But he is the very essence of economic corruption. He has taken so much from so many people. I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that he is one of the main contributors to the poverty in this nation."

"Oh." Esdese said. Sounding disappointed. "Well, that's a bit boring."

"Well, he is very convenient to have around. But the moment we don't need him anymore, I will ruin him." he said and looked down at her. "You don't mind do you?"

"Not really. I kinda like watching you destroy things. But he is a citizen and is protected by law. But if you bring forth some hard evidence of this corruption..." she said and shrugged. "Then sure, he can hang."

Tatsumi nodded to her and took a step backward again. Taking his original place.

"But I must say," Esdese continued. "You are growing into your role pretty quickly, Tatsumi. Already plotting against political oppositions."

_Already becoming the man I killed_, Tatsumi thought. He didn't like that thought. Not one bit. He diverted his attention away from it by looking down at the clipboard in his hand again.

"I am surprised that the next one didn't flee the capital after the death of the prime minister." he said. Still talking silently. So only Esdese could hear it. "It is unexpected that she would just return to her work in the laboratories after what happened."

"She is a survivor. I guess that she just tried to slink away until the storm ebbed out. Hoping that we would ask her to work for us, I wager. Call her in." Esdese said. Sounding like she had been looking forward to this slightly.

Tatsumi nodded and called out for the next case. The large doors opened up and a small figure passed in through them.

Dorothea walked into the large hall. Her steps determined. Holding her head as high as she could. Her rigid movements attesting to how tense she was. Tatsumi looked at her with interest as she approached the base of the long stairs.

The last time he had seen her had been when he fought her in order to get to the prime minister. He had left her with a rather big gash in her chest at that time. Yet now he could not see any trace of the wound. Neither in her posture or her movements.

Dorothea kneeled down in front of the long stairs. It was easy to see that she was quite nervous. Tatsumi cleared his throat.

"Dorothea, former member of Wild hunt, researcher of danger beast mutation and the current wielder of the teigu known as Absordex. You have been called to this hearing because the imperial court has reached a decision concerning your future."

Dorothea looked up at him then her eyes traveled over to Esdese who was looking down at her with slightly uninterested eyes. "And?"

"The founding of all your research will seize immediately." Tatsumi called out. "You are to turn all your resources and results over to the new imperial guard."

Dorothea looked like someone had punched her in the stomach. "All of it?"

"All of it." Esdese confirmed in a flat voice.

"But.. b-but what will happen to all my work?" she asked. Her voice trembling. "The things that I have in the laboratories are projects that I have been working on since long before I came to the empire."

"Your work and resources will be reviewed and examined thoroughly." Tatsumi answered calmly. Sounding as official as he could. "If there is anything there that can serve the new empire, then it will be handed over to new scientists and researchers. The rest will be discarded."

"Discarded?" Dorothea echoed. Her voice hinting of panic and despair. "Head administrator, sir, you don't understand. What is down there is not only small projects that have been ordered to conduct. It is the work of my lifetime. It is my soul. I even have one of my old comrades down there. I was ordered to save her and make her stronger. But I never got a chance to finish it since the conflict in the empire started to wind down."

"We are well aware of the fate of Cosmina." Tatsumi said in an empty voice. "We have a full inventory of all the things you have been doing with the empire's resources down there."

"She is strong. I promise you that. And she can become even stronger!" Dorothea said in the quick voice. Looking at Esdese for hope. "She can be a great asset to the imperial military, great general. I assure you."

"We will she to what extent she can take orders. If she cannot follow the command of a superior, then she will be useless." Esdese said calmly.

What little hope there was in Dorothea's face drained away. She was well aware that Cosmina was hard to control in her current state. She didn't even know is she would attack her fellow soldiers if let loose.

"Why?" she asked a little louder than she had intended. "All my work could benefit the imperial power. That is what I have always promised. I have stayed true to those that ruled this nation ever since I came here."

Tatsumi looked down at her. He couldn't really say that what he felt for the trembling little woman was something close to pity. But he didn't hate her. However, he was very determined to not let people like her have any real power. Esdese had been quick to agree with him when they decided about her fate the day before. Even if it was not for the same reason. She just disliked Dorothea because she was a former Wild hunt member. Not really caring about her lack of morality.

"You worked way too close to the prime minister. You aided in his traitorous ways. You and most of you accomplishments must be made completely powerless." Tatsumi said in a clear voice.

"What?" Dorothea said. Not following Tatsumi's explanation. Her eyes moving over to Esdese. Her mouth half open as she spoke. "But.. but you.. great general. You did also.."

"I did what?" Esdese asked in a curious voice. A smile spreading on her face. With a clear sadistic tint to it.

Dorothea realized that she couldn't finish that sentence. She suddenly understood the cruelty of the situation. Esdese was exempt from any guilt because of her power and position. That was the only reason why everyone ignored what was so glaringly obvious. Dorothea was about to lose everything because she lacked that kind of power. In that way, nothing about Esdese's ways had changed, Dorothea realized. She just had the misfortune to be at the receiving end this time.

The power balance in the empire had changed. And while Esdese had remained on top, because of her monstrous abilities, Dorothea suddenly found herself at the bottom of the ladder. Simply because of happenstance. And Esdese found that completely reasonable.

"And you will also be forced to hand over your teigu, Dorothea." Tatsumi stated matter-of-factly.

If Dorothea's face had been bereft of hope before, she now started to show earnest panic. "No! It is a part of my body. You can't do that." she shouted out.

"Do you have any reasoning to that or are you honestly challenging our ability to take it from you?" Esdese asked in an amused voice.

"No.. I-I didn't mean it like that. You don't understand." Dorothea continued in her loud voice. "I need Absordex. You must not... please.. I can't lose it. It is linked to my physique. If you take it from me I won't be able to even... my age will.. I need it."

"We are well aware that Absordex has affected you physique in some way." Tatsumi said in a cold tone. "It might have granted you capabilities that you have enjoyed quite a lot. But we can not let someone who's loyalty to us is so uncertain keep such a powerful tool. I am sure you can follow that line of reasoning."

Dorothea opened her mouth as if to say something but nothing came out. She closed it after a little while. Her eyes wide. Realizing that she could not escape this. She slowly fell down on her knees. Silent tears starting to pour down her face as she just stared at Esdese and Tatsumi.

Tatsumi looked down at her. Looking at her like this was a very thankful reminder that he did not enjoy these kinds of cruelties. Even when they were directed at some of the people he despised the most. He didn't feel some deeper gratification at the sight of the despairing Dorothea. Even if he found it the right thing to do, there was no joy in it for him. And he was very glad that there wasn't.

He looked out over the galleries.

Kotaro was looking at Dorothea with wide sympathetic eyes. He didn't know anything about her. To him, it just looked like she was a very young girl that now had had everything taken away from her because of things she couldn't control. Tatsumi made a mental note to explain more about the different members of the empire to the boy at some point.

The five ministers that remained from the old imperial court looked very uncomfortable. Tatsumi could guess that they were afraid that something like this would happen to them sooner or later. Tatsumi did have some plans in mind for them but nothing as harsh as this. Finally, his eyes moved to his own ministers. Those sitting at the bottom.

None of them looked happy or joyous. But when Tatsumi looked at them, the older man turned his stern face in his direction and nodded. Giving Tatsumi his approval. They knew who Dorothea was and what she had done. Tatsumi nodded back.

He looked down at Dorothea. He was about to gesture for the guards to come and escort her away when Esdese stirred in her seat. She rose up slowly and walked up to the edge of the stairs. Tatsumi's worried eyes following her. This was probably not something good.

Esdese looked down at Dorothea. The other girl looked up towards her. Her tearful eyes questioning. Esdese smiled a somewhat ominous smile down at her. Then she started to slowly walk down the stairs.

"Great general?" Tatsumi said and walked up to the edge of the stairs himself. Looking at her as she walked down.

Esdese calmly walked down to the carpet that Dorothea was kneeling on. Her hands on her hips. Her smile hard to read. She stopped when she was standing just in front of Dorothea. Barely a decimeter from her.

Dorothea just stared down at Esdese's boots. Not sure of what was going on. She didn't dare to look up at her right now. Then she felt how Esdese's fingers gently touched the side of her face. Stroking it as they moved down and grabbed her jaw. Then the hand slowly turned her face up towards her.

Esdese was forced to lean forward a bit in order to reach Dorothea's head. Since she was so much larger than her. She was looking down at the other girl with a warm smile. Holding some of her own hair away with her other hand.

"There is something about those that have been in this world for a long time." Esdese said. "They have a certain dignity to them. Something that is almost noble by nature. Even if it is often subtle and hidden."

Dorothea met Esdese's confident eyes with an uncertain expression. Not knowing how Esdese had learned of her true age.

"Something respectable." Esdese continued on. Her thumb stroking Dorothea's chin in an almost affectionate way. "I have always wanted to try and properly desecrate that."

Dorothea's face started to show fear again at those words. Causing Esdese's smile to widen. She let go of the smaller girl's face and straightened up. Dorothea was forced to almost turn her face completely upwards in order to keep meeting Esdese's gaze. When she stood up she barely reached Esdese's chest. Now her head was at the same height as her thighs.

"The boring thing is that older people usually die as soon as you start getting serious. Spoiling all the fun way too early." Esdese explained calmly. Putting her hands on her hips again. "But you," she said as her smile started to show some teeth. "you will probably last for days."

Dorothea's eyes widened as she realized what Esdese had in mind for her. "But -I-I t-this isn't fair. I have been serving loyally." she started to stutter in panic. "I have done everything the empire has ordered me to do! Please don't do this to me! I have tried my best to be a useful ally. If I have made some mistakes I will apologize. Just please, please don't-"

Dorothea abruptly stopped her frantic pleading as she noticed that Esdese's expression had changed character slightly. Her eyes were smiling down at her. Dorothea realized that Esdese was enjoying her begging. She felt how something inside of her fell out as she realized how hopeless her situation was. There was no reason for her horrible fate other than Esdese's dark enjoyment. This had nothing to do with what she had done. Having her powers taken from her was the punishment she would receive for her actions. The past had nothing to do with what she now was going to suffer at Esdese's hands.

She was simply being preyed upon. By a predator too powerful for her to oppose. Having no choice but wait to be devoured. Her head fell down. Staring at the floor.

"No.." she said in a small voice as one of Esdese's hands let go of her own hip and started to move down to her head again. "This can't be happening.."

She yelled out slightly as Esdese's hand grabbed a hard hold on her hair. Esdese turned around towards the throne again. Looking up at Tatsumi. Dragging Dorothea's body with her as she did. Her iron hold on her hair staying.

"Head administrator, I will be taking Dorothea for myself. Fix all the bureaucracy, will you? I will hand you Absordex when I am done with her."

Tatsumi couldn't have looked more bothered. Just as he had expected, the situation had turned really sour. They had not spoken about anything like this when they talked about this meeting the day prior. This was just Esdese acting on her impulses again. And at a rather inopportune time for Tatsumi.

He had felt her elegant hands caressing his face down in the garden. In just the same way as they had touched Dorothea. Yet he had said no. And for once, Esdese had respected that. So now that urge had found another outlet.

He realized that he should have let her hurt him earlier that day.

He was thinking about what to do about the situation but before he said anything, the old man that he and Esdese had made into a minister together spoke up.

"And what will you be doing to this woman?" his stern voice called out loudly.

Esdese turned her head towards him with a smile. "A lot of things, minister. A lot of things. I will spare you the details but if she survives my treatment long enough, I might make her into a pet."

The face of the minister darkened. The old man had wanted Dorothea in prison but this was too much for him. Tatsumi watched him closely. This was why he had wanted him in a minister position. This man would not sit idly by and watch these kinds of cruelties happen without doing something about it. But now was not the right time. And the situation might be turning into something dangerous at any second now.

"Great general." he called out in his official voice. "We have the emperor-to-be here in the room. Let's take this ugly discussion at another time." he tried.

Esdese looked up at him again. A very small hint of surprise in her expression. "There is no discussion to be had, administrator. This one is mine." she said and lifted Dorothea a bit higher with her grip on her head. Raising an eyebrow at him. "Or are you challenging my authority?" she said and smiled at him again. Openly welcoming the conflict.

Tatsumi couldn't think of any behavior Esdese could have had that would be more problematic than this. If she had just said that she would handle the punishment of Dorothea, then he might have been able to play it off as normal procedure. But now she had very clearly stated that she might turn Dorothea into her pet. She had openly shown that she mainly was doing this for her own enjoyment. And that was harder to play down or hide under some facade of political reasoning.

He looked over at Kotaro. The young man seemed stuck somewhere between shocked and transfixed by the situation. Staring at Esdese with a slightly open mouth. Tatsumi couldn't tell if he was scared or just in shock. He "tsked" with irritation.

There was nothing he could do about this now. Esdese was right in regards to the hierarchy. She had the authority here. She was the one in command of the whole empire at the moment. He could not give any meaningful objections when faced with that kind power. And even if he could, he didn't know that he should. She had welcomed the conflict. She seemed very keen on the thought of subjugating him a bit right now. And he didn't know what form that subjugation would take. The only smart thing he could do now was damage control.

He looked down at Dorothea. "Dorothea, you were a part of Wild hunt. An organization responsible for some of the most heinous crimes towards civilians loyal to the empire known to date. " Tatsumi said. Careful to say civilians loyal to the empire. If you took away that distinction, his lover was clearly the one responsible for the most horrific things in the nation. "Do you deny that?"

Dorothea tear stained face looked up at him the best she could while Esdese's hard grip remained. "No. But everything I did was under the orders of-"

"And you yourself were already infamous for the horrors you had done back in your own country before you joined Wild hunt." Tatsumi cut her off loudly.

Dorothea didn't have an answer to that. Simply staring at him. Tatsumi looked up at Esdese. "Make her understand the feelings of her victims." he said and nodded to her. Tatsumi felt like it had never been a more clear scenario of the pot calling the kettle black.

Esdese just smiled at him. A mix of smugness and satisfaction on her face. She had challenged him and he had backed off. He had submitted. She turned around and started to walk out of the hall. Dorothea being dragged behind her. "This meeting is adjourned." she called out loudly. "We have finished most of the cases. Those that remain will be postponed to tomorrow."

As if her words had been her final sentencing, Dorothea started to sob loudly. She didn't even struggle as she was drawn across the floor of the hall. Because she knew that it was futile. She could not get away from this. Her opponent was way beyond her own capabilities. And even if she had been able to escape Esdese, she was in the middle of all Esdese's power. She couldn't hope to escape the palace. But she couldn't stop herself from crying. She knew so well what went on down in the torture chambers. She knew so well how horrible this would get. She wished that she was dead.

The old minister sitting in the gallery looked up at Tatsumi. His expression furious. Tatsumi nodded to him and tried to make a calming gesture towards him with his hands. He would have to talk to him after the meeting. As long as he didn't do anything rash right now, Tatsumi could probably handle it.

Some of the members of the new imperial guard in the room cheered at Esdese as she left the room. They had been her soldiers long before the were made into this new police force. They knew when their leader was enjoying herself and they would cheer at every victory she made. And this was clearly one. Esdese smiled at the sound of it. Overlooking the fact that they were acting a bit too unruly for a court hearing at the moment.

She left the hall in long strides. The sound of Dorothea's sobbing slowly fading away. The hall remained silent after that. Then people started to slowly leave. Tatsumi just stood at the top podium and looked out over those gathered as they started to leave.

Kotaro gave Tatsumi a long look that he couldn't really interpret. He looked betrayed in some strange way. Then the boy turned around and started to leave as well. Tatsumi looked over at his own ministers. A mix of anger and disdain clear on their faces. He sighed.

Was he really making a difference here?

* * *

**Author's note:**

**This one grew way larger than I thought it would. Like so many times before. I had originally intended to pay a visit to Night raid in the middle of this chapter but had to move that to the next one. Since this was growing so big and I was behind the schedule. As usual.**

**I must say that I am a bit annoyed at my reduced speed. A long time ago, I was releasing one of these chapters every ten days. But now I don't have the time for that anymore. Mainly because of IRL convictions but nonetheless, it is a bit annoying. Since I am still racing with the manga here. I will keep trying to increase my pace again.**

**Though as annoyed as I might be with that, the amount of feedback I have gotten since the last chapter has been outstanding. Truly. I have read every word from you. I have taken your suggestions and ideas in mind. We will see how they affect the future of this story.**

**So yeah, once again thanks for reading. And thanks for all your PMs/comments/reviews. They have been great at keeping me motivated to write more. As well as making this rewarding for me.**

**Until next time, take care of each other.**


	42. Resilience

**So now we have reached a tempo of one chapter a month. Barely.**

** UNACCEPTABLE!**

**The next chapter WILL be released on 22/06. I promise!**

* * *

**Resilience.**

Leone walked through the dusty corridor at a relaxed pace. Carrying a bag filled with bread over one of her shoulders.

She passed several old doors as she walked through the large house. Some of them had partly fallen from their hinges and some of them were just open door frames. Lacking a door at all. The whole house was very run down. Some of the wallpaper and tapestries had started falling off the walls and the few paintings that were remaining on them were faded and tilted. When Leone passed through some of the doors she shouted a heads up to those sitting in it. When she got a respond, she reached into her bag and threw a loaf of bread to those in the room.

Every room was filled with different people. Some soldiers, some civilians and some mercenaries. But right now they were all sitting at desks or around tables. Sorting through papers and letters.

The remains of the revolutionary army.

Leone walked up the stairs to the highest level of the house. This was an old and abandoned hotel in one of the small towns to the west of the capital. What had once been a rather lively small community was now nothing more than a ghost town. All its citizens and members had since long fled to the capital. Or towards the borders. In the hope of fleeing from the raiding and battles that were ravaging the nation.

Now not a single person lived in the town. So it had been easy for Night raid and the few followers they had left to find refuge amongst the abandoned houses and businesses.

Leone walked through the final door and entered what seemed to have been the main office of the hotel. The room filled with old but expensive looking furniture. Armchairs, an extravagant desk, and chandeliers. The walls were occupied by large windows and old bookshelves. The setting sun was shining in through the windows. Marking that the day was coming to an end.

"Sorry for being late!" Leone said loudly as she entered the room. Saluting those in the room in her usual carefree way. Waving one of her hands at them.

Akame was sitting behind the main desk in the room. Isamu was occupying one of the chairs on the opposite side of it. His feet resting on the desk. One of the leaders of the revolutionary army was sitting in one of the two couches in the room. A bit away from the other. Slouched forward slightly.

"No problem, Leone." Isamu said without turning around. Cleaning his nails with a knife. "I arrived here just some seconds ago as well."

Isamu still had his entire throat wrapped up in bandages. It was a small wonder that he had survived his fight against Kurome. Everyone knew that if her sword had hit him just a little bit to the side, he would have been dead. Luckily for him, her cut through his throat hadn't killed him immediately. And as such he had been able to survive.

Even if the blood loss should have killed him in less than a minute or two. But the young man had once again shown his insane proficiency with his teigu and had used its power to keep his blood moving around as normally. None of it leaving his pierced neck. Even so, it had been a tough time for him after the battle. Since he had been forced to stay awake as the medics fixed up his throat. Not able to afford any anesthetics. Afraid that he would lose his control over the teigu and die. Having to stay awake for almost thirty hours after the exhausting fight.

But he had survived. Though he still hadn't healed fully. Still being very slow and careful when he moved his head around.

Leone sat down in the other armchair that was placed in front of the desk. Smiling at Akame who calmly nodded at her. "Found some bread that was about to turn bad in our reserves, so I distributed it." Leone said and took up the last piece of bread in her bag and took a bite of it.

"No visitors or new arrivals?" Akame asked.

"Nope." Leone said with her mouth full. "None of those placed around the city has seen any sign of human life for three days straight now. This entire region seems to be deserted."

Akame leaned back a bit. "I guess it is a good thing that neither Makeias or the empire are in these parts. But it is also discouraging that no new survivors have come to us during these days."

"More might still come." the officer that was sitting on the couch said in a tired voice. "It is too early to give up yet."

Akame gave the man a kind but doubtful look. "Have we gotten any more responses?"

"No." the man said. "But we are still sending out messages."

Akame leaned forward a bit and looked away from him. "That is kind of the reason as to why I have gathered you here today. We need to start moving down a new path."

"Hmm?" Leone said. Her interest peaked. She was already so very bored of this small and dead town.

"We have avoided this long enough but now it is impossible to ignore what we must do." Akame said in an empty voice. "And the first step to that is to dissolve the revolutionary army."

"What?" the leader of the revolutionary army exclaimed and rose up from the couch. "You can't be serious?"

Akame looked at him. "As serious as I have ever been. I mean no offense with my words and you know that, officer. But keeping this organization alive serves no purpose."

"We can still make a difference." the man insisted.

Akame looked at him for a little while before she continued. "How many people do we have left?"

The man hesitated for some moments before he answered. "About two hundred."

"And how many of those can fight?"

"Maybe a little more than half."

Akame closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair. "So a hundred warriors strong." she opened her eyes and looked at Isamu. "How large have we estimated Makeias' force to be?"

Isamu scratched his head. "It is said that he took about an eight of the imperial military with him when he betrayed them. So say about four hundred thousand men."

"Four hundred thousand." Akame said slowly. "Makeias is the smaller one of out opponents here. And he would hardly notice his casualties if every one of our warriors took down a hundred of his." she said and looked over to the officer. "It is over. We cannot win through the strength of arms anymore."

"More might still come." the officer tried but Akame was determined.

"We have waited here for four months. And yes, during these months a few people have reunited with us. But they have been few and far between. It is time that we face the hard fact. The revolutionary army did not survive the betrayal of the Path of Peace."

Leone nodded somberly. It was not an encouraging reality but it was none the less the reality.

They had learned just how grave the religious organizations betrayal had been shortly after their battle with Makeias. They had learned that all their different hideouts and bases had been attacked simultaneously while they were fighting. Their positions all revealed to Makeias' forces. There had not been much fighting to speak of in most of these cases. The revolutionary army relying on their secrecy as a defense. Most of them not being able to handle a fully informed and planned out attack.

Night raid and what remained of their small party had moved to this abandoned town. Sending out messages for any survivors. But few had responded. They had been forced to convert all the people they had left to just handle their information network. All the warriors and mercenaries forced to work in these areas unfamiliar to them. Simply because they no longer had the manpower to stay in contact with all their spies and hidden agents without them.

And so their time in this small town had passed. But with every day, the hope of any more survivors showing up had grown slimmer and slimmer.

"We can assume that we are the bulk of what remains of the army." Leone agreed.

Akame nodded again. "To keep these people fighting for this cause is a cruelty I will no longer encourage. They are risking all their lives without any real chance of causing a change or affecting the future of this nation."

The officer stood there for some moments. Opening and closing his mouth. Then he finally sat back down on the couch with a light thump. "So what will we do now?" he asked to no one in particular. "We got no homes to return. No resources to fall back on. Many of us are wanted criminals."

"I don't have the right to tell you where to go." Akame said. "I would suggest that most of you separate and go into hiding. It will be easier to catch you if you stay together. Though I would beg of you to keep fighting cruelty whenever you meet it."

"How can we just give up our hope to see the empire change as a whole?"

Akame looked at him and smiled. "Who said anything about giving up?"

Leone nodded again and Isamu looked up from his nails and smiled.

"I am telling you to separate and spread out simply because your contributions to our fight have been rendered so small that it is not worth risking your lives for it. Night raid will not stop because of this."

_I cannot stop. Even if I wanted to_, Akame thought. Her thoughts traveling to Najenda's letter and the last request her friend had made of her.

"We will abandon parts of our information network but not all of it. We will keep as many spies as we can stay in contact with. And I will request that a handful of people from the revolutionary army stay with us in order to handle all that information."

A bit of hope had returned to the voice of the officer when he spoke again. "So what will you do now?"

"What we always should have done." Akame said. Her red eyes intense. "We will infiltrate the capital ourselves."

"Finally!" Leone exclaimed. While Isamu just sighed.

"I had hoped that killing Makeias would make the people rally to us again. Like they had done before. Since his forces has been terrorizing them so. But it backfired horribly on us. So now we have to focus on our main goal entirely. We can no longer afford any detours."

"But what is that, more precisely. I mean it has been hard to find out anything more reliable about what is happening with the leadership of the empire right now." Isamu said questioningly. "One day they say that a new emperor is in the capital but is kept hidden. The next day they say that Esdese has taken the throne for herself and intend to make her children into the new royal lineage. Just the other day I read a message from a spy who thinks that there actually is no imperial court at all. That no one is ruling at all."

"It has been hard to find out exactly what has been going on." Akame admitted. "We lost many of the spies we had placed within the palace after the emperor's death. When they were searching for his killer. But I got some information from a rather reliable source this morning."

"And?" Leone said and leaned forward.

"It is true that Esdese rules over the empire right now. The entire empire, not just the military. I do not know if it is permanent or just a temporary solution for them. However, I do know, that she is not doing it alone. There is another one working together with her. One who is keeping tabs from behind the scenes. A certain former assassin." Akame said somberly.

Now it was Leone's turn to sigh. Leaning back into her own armchair. "Are you sure that this is reliable information." she asked tiredly.

"Positive." Akame said. "There is no mistake about who Esdese is ruling together with."

Leone reached up with a hand and massaged her eyes.

No one had really known much of what had happened after the death of the prime minister. It had been so hard to get any reliable source from inside the higher levels of the palace. It had taken some time before they had even managed to verify that he was dead.

"So much for my theory." she said in a sad voice.

Leone had not forgotten about what Tatsumi had done the night she was freed from the torture chambers. Nor had any of them missed his fight against Makeias. Leone suspected that that was the reason why Akame had tried to prioritize taking out Makeias first. Because she was still unsure of where Tatsumi was standing. Wanting to give him time to make them understand where he stood. Leone herself had theorized that it must have been Tatsumi that had killed the emperor. That he had somehow fooled them all.

But this was the nail in the coffin for that theory. The empire had not changed much after the prime minister's death. And if this information was correct, Tatsumi was now one of the main pillars supporting it.

"But why did he try and save Najenda then?" Leone asked after some moments of silence.

"Maybe that wasn't his main objective." Isamu said. Quick to try and discredit Tatsumi. "Maybe he just had his own reasons for wanting to see the pillager dead and found that to be the best opportunity to make that happen."

"His allegiance should have been clear to us after he gave Mine to the ice queen." Akame said lowly. "We don't know what exactly happened in Garu, but we know that Mine is dead because of him. And now we know for a fact that he is one of the two persons that are at the top of the empire. I don't see that we have any other choice now."

Isamu nodded. Leone remained silent.

"We will infiltrate the capital and stay hidden. I don't think that we stand any chance of getting into the palace. We will have to bide our time and wait for an opportunity to strike."

Isamu straightened up in his armchair. "So we will try to go directly for the great general?"

"No." Akame said. "We can never secure a high certainty of victory against Esdese. We will need to take care of the smaller targets first."

"So Tatsumi the traitor is first on our to-do-list?" Isamu asked with a smile.

Akame nodded. Unsmiling. Leone spoke up from her silence at the gesture.

"So we will begin this by killing our old comrade." she said. Half a statement and half a question.

"Not you. I will." Akame said. "I know that circumstances might not allow for this. But for as far as it is possible, I would like the two of you to leave Tatsumi to me."

Leone looked at her for a little while. Staring into Akame's red eyes. Akame did not shy away from her gaze. After some moments, Leone started to smile.

She could still see it in Akame. See could see that she felt the same. At least to some extent. She had not given up fully yet. Not completely. There was a bit of hope left in her. A small as it might be, but it was definitely there. "Well then, when the time comes, I will leave Tatsumi to you."

Isamu shook his head. "One suicide quest after another. Anyway, will we just leave Makeias as he is?"

"For now, yes." Akame said. "Makeias will not just sit idly by as time passes. We know that he want to see Esdese dead as well. He will make his own attempt to bring her down. And when the imperial power reacts to whatever plan he might have, then that might give us the right moments to strike."

"If you say so." Isamu said and shrugged.

"Besides," Akame continued. "I think that Kurome will stab Makeias in the back in the end. And she will hopefully have Wave on her side by then."

Leone looked a bit skeptical. "You sure?"

Akame nodded. "Yeah. She will. I am convinced of it. Based on our interactions while she was in our care. And what transpired during our fight with Makeias. I gave her the offer to join us. And she made it clear that she wanted to take us up on that offer."

Leone stuffed her mouth full with the last of the bread. "Well, you know best. When will we start moving?"

"Tomorrow we will start evaluating which potential hideouts in the capital that might serve us best. That will determine when we move out."

"You know what." Leone said. Some crumbs flying out of her mouth as she spoke. "I don't think this sounds all that bad. It might still be a chance for us here."

"Yeah. Maybe." Akame said. "Maybe."

* * *

It was already dark outside when Tom-Tom and his men entered Makeias tent. It was a clear and starry sky that they left behind them as they walked in under the tent flap but the wind was still rather strong this night. Making their robes and clothes dance in the wind as they entered.

The large room the walked into was filled with ornate furniture. A large table standing in the middle of it. Maps, papers, and books spread out over it. The room was well lit but there was no one in it except for Makeias. He was leaning against the armrest of a couch to their side. His back turned against them.

"General, we have arrived as you ordered." Tom-Tom said and started to walk up towards the table. The four men behind him following. "How can we serve you?"

Makeias didn't turn around as he spoke. "How is the transition going?"

"Ten percent have moved in. Thirty percent are preparing and the rest is waiting for the signal." Tom-Tom said as he reached the edge of the table.

"How long will it take until everyone is in position?"

Tom-Tom scratched his head. "Hard to say. At least a month more or so. I think that we ourselves should probably move in before that. But we have not met with any troubles yet."

Makeias nodded. "As long as they don't catch Jack, we have nothing to worry about."

"So why did you call us here, general?" Tom-Tom asked and looked at Makeias' back.

Makeias slowly turned around and walked up to the other side of the table. Looking down at an apple he was holding in one of his hands. His expression empty. When he reached the table he opened his hand and let the fruit roll out of it. It fell down on the table and rolled a bit across it. As it did, Tom-Tom and his men could see that a third of the surface of the fruit was completely black. Rotten.

"No one in the world would call this fruit healthy, right?" Makeias said and looked at the apple. It stopped in the middle of the table. On the top of a large map of the empire.

"I'm sorry, what?" Tom-Tom asked.

"Two-thirds of this apple is healthy and good. But if you were to sort it as either good or bad, you would sort it as bad. Since you know that the corruption would soon make all of it inedible."

Tom-Tom looked at Makeias. He understood the obvious parallel but he was still uncertain where he was going with this. "The good part can still be separated from the bad."

"Maybe." Makeias said and scratched his midsection. "Do we have any news concerning Yatsufusa? What is its status?"

"It has reached the production camps as you ordered. It is being tested out but we have yet to find anyone who has a good compatibility with it."

"That might be just as well. I am not sure that it is worth the effort. It might be better to destroy it. We eventually will anyway."

"I think the teigu can be a good asset to us if we just find someone who can use it well, general."

"Probably. But if we do, we will only be able to use it as far away from admiral Wave as possible."

Tom-Tom gave him a questioning look. "Why so?"

"Because Wave believes that Akame took it after she killed Kurome. He believes that Night raid stole that teigu." Makeias said lowly.

"Why would he think that?"

"Because I told him so." Makeias said bluntly and looked up at Tom-Tom. "It wouldn't make sense for Akame to slay Kurome and then leave the teigu behind. She would have taken Yatsufusa with her.

Tom-Tom seemed slightly confused. "Would have? Wait, so Akame did not kill Kurome?"

"No." Makeias said and looked Tom-Tom in the eyes. "I did."

Tom-Tom face remained still for some moments. Taking some time to process what he had just heard. After a little while, he found his voice. "Did she betray us in the end?"

"No. Though she was rather close to." Makeias said and looked down at the apple again. "But I don't think she could leave Wave behind. As long as we had him, we had her."

"Then why?" Tom-Tom asked. Sadness finding its way into his voice. "Why was it necessary to kill her?"

"It wasn't." Makeias said grimly. "I didn't mean to kill her. Morbus reacted on its own. Somehow the disease that I put in her arm activated on its own. I couldn't even reach it. Much less suppress it. And with her weak physique, it was a quick process. I tried to stab myself with my spear in order for the teigu to have to focus its energy on me. Trying to divert its attention away from her. But it didn't help in the end."

"Damn it all." Tom-Tom said slowly as he reached up and rubbed his eyes with his hand. "So you are losing more control over Morbus?"

"I am starting to doubt that I ever had any control, my old friend." Makeias said silently.

"What do you mean?"

"Morbus has acted out before. This wasn't the first time. Just like when it infected Wave without me intending for it." Makeias said. "But I am starting to see a pattern to it."

Tom-Tom remained silent as he waited for him to continue. Leaning heavily on his staff.

"Morbus has never reacted on its own so aggressively. But if you think back to the meeting when Wave showed us Night raid's letter, Kurome was the only one who clearly stated that we should seal Morbus away. And later on, it kills her on its own accord."

Silent followed in the wake of his words.

The men behind Tom-Tom looked at each other. A strong gust blew against the tent. Making the flaps in it move around and causing the candles in the room momentarily flicker. No one said anything. To Tom-Tom and his men, it suddenly felt like they weren't alone with Makeias in the large tent. It suddenly felt like someone else was listening to them. Or something else.

"Do you mean that it killed Kurome as a conscious choice?" Tom-Tom said after a long while. "That it had a reason for why just Kurome was the one."

"It is too early to tell. There is also the question as to why it only killed her then and not earlier. Maybe it needs me to be near the target?" Makeias said and rubbed his forehead. "I don't know. There are too many unknowns right now. But we need to take some precautions. And soon."

"Like what?" Tom-Tom asked.

Makeias smiled at him. "That will be up to you, Tom-Tom. I can't know about it, for obvious reasons. And we should probably avoid any physical contact from now on."

Tom-Tom kept his expression stern but the pain was visible in his eyes. "Suppose that I would find the strength to do this, how would know when?"

"You will just have to watch me closely. If you see signs that I am acting strangely, or my decisions go against what we set out to do, then that might be a warning sign."

Tom-Tom sighed deeply. His breath shaking slightly. "And how would we do it, if everything goes as ill as you say?"

"I had hoped that we would have Murasame in our possession by now. Then it would have been an easy thing to do. But somehow, Akame survived the trap that we had made for her in that garden. So now it is a little bit more tricky."

Tom-Tom looked down at the apple. This whole discussion was tearing him down.

"One way would be to team me up against the ice queen. That would seal the deal. But it is a hard thing to do without risking all of your lives as well."

"Have you given up on finding a way for you to survive Morbus?"

"Given up? No. Far from it. But Morbus must be destroyed before this is over. No matter the cost. And I am starting to wonder how we will kill it. In exchange for its power, we have allowed it to grow too strong for our own good."

Tom-Tom nodded. "Aye. That we have. But we do know one thing for sure."

Makeias nodded back. "Yeah. It needs me to survive. At least in some form. It has been fighting furiously to keep me alive through all of this. I would guess that I am still its host body in some way."

"So you are telling me to kill you if you lose control?" Tom-Tom said. His voice empty.

"Unless we have found a way to separate this all-corrupting infection from me. But we can not allow Morbus to survive this. No matter what." Makeias said. Keeping his voice as steady as he could. "And you already know of one way to kill this disease."

Tom-Tom looked at Makeias for some moments before he spoke. "Fire."

Makeias nodded again. "You will need to find a way to make it's liquid flammable. To make my blood flammable. And probably to a rather extreme degree. But we do know that it cannot survive against fire."

Tom-Tom took a deep breath. "I will figure something out."

"I know you will." Makeias said with trust. "But as I said, it seems like I can not know the details. I might be sharing my knowledge with something else."

Tom-Tom bent down and took up the apple from the table. Resting his staff in his arm as he brought it in under his coat for a moment. "Besides," he said, "I, for one, still thinks it is a bit too early to give up hope here."

With those words, he turned around and started to leave the tent. "I will go and see these preparations done. You better get everything ready on your part as well. We need to be ready when our turn to move out finally comes."

He threw the apple back over his shoulder as he left the tent. His men following him. Makeias caught it with a hand.

He couldn't help but smile as he looked down on it. Its corrupted part had been cut away from it with a knife.

* * *

"I expected you to be here an hour ago." Tatsumi said as Esdese walked through one of the double doors that led into her apartment. He was lying on one of the couches in the entry hall. On the opposite side of the doors she had walked through. Holding a small folder of papers above his head. Not leaving the numbers on the papers with his eyes.

"Yeah. I took a little detour down to the torture chambers." Esdese said and unfastened her sword from her back. She threw it to the side nonchalantly. The sword landing perfectly in the elegant weapon rack that adorned the wall. Without either Esdese or Tatsumi looking at it.

"Lovely." Tatsumi said sarcastically. "By the way, the new imperial guard has still not received Absordex, I heard. So I guess that you still have Dorothea down there."

"Yeah. It was time to brand her today." Esdese said as she walked over to where he was. Moving her head around a bit as she did. One of her hands massaging her neck.

"Brand her?" Tatsumi said and looked at her.

"I brand all my pets. In one way or another." Esdese said and sat down on the couch. Beside his stomach. Her back turned towards him.

Tatsumi gave her a skeptical look. "Don't t tell me that you did her like they do the cattle? An iron brand heated in a fire."

"Do you take me for a savage? I am far more delicate than that." Esdese said. Looking over at him. Pretending to be insulted. "I actually heat up a nail shaped tool. And then I carve the proof of their submission directly into their skin in a far more elegant way than an iron brand could. Usually somewhere visible, like the forehead. But sometimes it is more entertaining to go for sensitivity instead. Like the inner thigh or-"

"Okay, okay." Tatsumi interrupted her. "That is already far more than I wanted to know."

Esdese gave him a complacent smile and then turned forward. Starting to undo the laces on her thigh high boots as Tatsumi continued.

"Still I am surprised that you would put your insignia on someone such as Dorothea. I thought you despised her."

"Ohh I have never put my own name or insignia on any of them. Nor the mark of the Partas clan. None of my pets are that remarkable."

"Then what do you carve into them?" Tatsumi asked. Looking at the side of her head.

"Usually just some drivel. Like, "I can't have children anymore." or if I got information from them it would be something like "I sold out my friends to save myself."."

Tatsumi let the folder fall down over his face with a light sigh. He needed to close the torture chambers. Sooner rather than later. Not that he had even started thinking about how he would make Esdese allow it. To her, torture chambers were a completely normal thing for a ruling government to have.

"Though there is one person that I would like to carve my insignia into." Esdese said in a voice that was both sweet and threatening at the same time. Tatsumi slightly pulled down the folder from his face. So that he could see over its edge. And just as he had expected, Esdese's eyes were staring at him. Her expression filled with that unyielding obsession that was equal part welcoming and horrifying.

"Nope." Tatsumi said in a muffled voice through the folder. "We have been through this countless times already."

"Aww, come on." Esdese pleaded with her most charming smile. Putting three of her fingers where his collarbones met. Just under his throat. "Let me put it right here. Just like my own mark. It would be perfect."

"You know, most people don't find the act of carving symbols into others bodies that romantic." Tatsumi said and moved the folder away from his face.

Esdese's fingers were slowly stroking the place where she wanted to mark him. "A tattoo or a scar wouldn't do. They would fade over time." Esdese said thoughtfully. "Maybe burning it in would be the best choice. With a bit of nice hot iron."

Tatsumi gave her a slightly annoyed look. They had talked about this many times before. Tatsumi had clearly stated that he refused several times and Esdese had always backed off. Not wanting his resentment. But she still brought it up every now and then.

"I would need to take my time with you." she said. Absorbed in her own fantasy. "It would need to be flawless. I would probably have to restrict your movements so that your body couldn't jerk away by instinct and ruin it."

"Not happening." Tatsumi said and swatted her hand away with the folder. "Besides, isn't that the symbol of the demon blood? Wouldn't it be more appropriate to put the mark of the Partas clan on me."

Esdese straightened up a bit. Still smiling. "You don't belong to the Partas clan. You belong to me and I am the new form of the ice demon. Its blood is a part of me now."

"Yeah but you are also the only remaining member of the Partas clan. That clan is basically your identity as well. It doesn't exist outside of you."

"Well, you are right." Esdese said and started to pull off one of her boots. "For now."

"Do you actually think that Dorothea is going to make it as one of your pets?"

"Ohh I doubt that." Esdese said. And threw her boot over the end of the couch. Starting with the next one. "She will probably die moments after I remove Absordex from her body."

"Then why go through the trouble of branding her?"

"Well, the process itself is quite fun. And there is a certain satisfaction in the hopelessness that fills someone's eyes when they realize that the rest of their lives will be spent in their current pathetic state. Branding someone often cements the fact that they are never going to escape this last part of their life. Seeing that last hope desperately struggle and then realize that it is going to die is quite... exquisite."

"Ok, you know what? Let's talk about something else." Tatsumi said and hit her shoulder with the folder he had been reading through. "You should check this."

Esdese looked at him for a moment and then grabbed the folder. Putting it down in her lap as she opened it up and started to read through it. After some moments, she put it down on the side of her as she removed her other boot. "So the number of refugees arriving at the capital has increased. What of it?"

"Increased threefold."

Esdese shrugged as she bent forward to pull off the last of the boot from her foot. "War creates refugees. Makeias forces are pillaging the countryside for food and supplies. It is only natural that people should flee towards the center of the imperial power in order to stay safe."

"And how will they provide for themselves here. Many of them were already poor. Most of them will starve when they come here."

"If you don't want them here, then simply stop them from entering. We can easily just keep them out of the city."

"And what do you think that will lead to, huh?" Tatsumi's asked and stared up at the ceiling. "How long do you think it will take until the common folk starts thinking that it might be better to plead loyalty to Makeias instead of us. Since we won't protect them from him they might as well hope that he will protect them from us."

"Gallus is running his hate campaign against Makeias. He will soon have convinced most of the people that Makeias is the devil." Esdese said nonchalantly as she threw her boot over the other one. "And even if we have some more deserters to the other side, what does it matter? People will pick their sides. And we will simply have to crush the side that opposes us in the end. It is as simple as that."

Tatsumi had, during these months, started to realize the problems the prime minister might have had when he worked with Esdese. She was so welcoming to conflict that she almost created it. Making it hard to withhold stability. "We need to welcome them into the city. But we will need to dedicate some of our military power to see over this process. The institutions we have now are seriously undermanned."

"I have distributed all the military power as I have seen fit. They are needed where they are now. I will not move them to take care of a civic issue."

Tatsumi sighed. "I don't like this idea, but it seems like we need to expand the military a little. At least in the form administration."

"Hmm?" Esdese said and gave him a wondering look.

"Esdese, the best solution to this problem might be for you to appoint a new general. One that is dedicated to just overwatch the civic business and not really engage in our external conflicts."

Esdese looked up at the ceiling as she thought about it. Flexing her now freed toes a bit back and forth as she did. "I think it might be a bit redundant. But I agree that it is important that we keep some sort of order. Or at least a minimum of it. Otherwise, it might hinder us."

Tatsumi nodded. "Do you have anyone that would be suited for this position?"

Esdese grabbed her chin. Remaining silent for a while as she thought about it.

After a little while, Tatsumi started to look around a bit as Esdese sank deeper into her thoughts. She didn't even pay any attention to the small tucking at her hair.

"Your hair is long enough to form a cape." Tatsumi said behind her.

"Mmm" Esdese said dismissively. Not paying attention to him. But after some moments, she turned her head around and looked at him. "What are you doing?"

Tatsumi had rolled around two times behind her. Wrapping himself up in her long hair from head to toe. He looked up at her with a smile. "Your hair is really long." he said.

"I thought we were trying to be serious here." Esdese said and raised an eyebrow at him.

"What? Don't I look serious right now?" Tatsumi said and rolled around one more time. Wrapping up his lower face in her hair. Covering his mouth and nose. "Do you have anybody suited for this job?"

"Yeah. I do." Esdese said and rose up and took a quick step away from the couch. Bending her head forward as she did. Smiling. Causing Tatsumi to spin around a couple of times as her hair was unwinded around him. Like a yo-yo and its string. When he finally stopped spinning around he was laying on his stomach. As he was about to dizzily turn around, Esdese sat down again. Right on top of him. Just over his sway-back.

Tatsumi let our a silent "Ohhf" as Esdese landed on his back. But she just picked up the folder and shifted through it once more. Nudging a bit back and forth on top of him until she was comfortable. Placing one of her legs on top of her other one as she sat on her Tatsumi-cushion. Resting her back against the couch.

"I have one that would be suited for this. But I don't like the idea of promoting her."

"Huh? Why not?" Tatsumi said as he squirmed under her.

"She is a bit too.. cocky. If I make her into a general, she might overstep her boundaries sooner or later. In which case I will need to punish her. Which will give off the impression that I have no idea of who the people that I am promoting are."

"Isn't that a risk no matter who you promote. I mean, even Wave betrayed us." Tatsumi said into the couch.

"Wave's matter was a case of clean cut betrayal. That is different. I might have to punish this one simply because she might refuse to call me great general or something like that. Or kill her because she won't follow orders. Because of no other apparent reason than laziness."

"Well... that does sound very different. Why would you even consider her then?"

"She is rather strong, even if she hides it very well. She was a general during Budo's rule but never appeared to reinstate into my military. Saying that she found the whole ordeal too troublesome. Returning her troops to the capital but stepping down herself."

"Sounds like she just doesn't like the idea of following your rule."

Esdese closed the folder in her lap. "Well, she always was one of those that were for the people of the empire and not its leaders. Kinda like Gallus. But it doesn't matter, she has no real choice anymore. I am the head of state. I can call upon her to serve and she will have little choice but to obey."

That line about her being for the people had awoken Tatsumi's interest. This might be a potential ally "Let's put her to work then."

Esdese thought about it for some more moments before she spoke up. "Fine. But if she becomes to troublesome, I will leave it to the new imperial guard to deal with her."

"Yeah, don't worry about it." Tatsumi said in an enthusiastic tone. "We will play it by ear."

Esdese nodded as Tatsumi continued. "By the way, have you gotten fatter? You are quite heavy."

"How rude." Esdese said with a smile down at him. He had turned his head around enough to meet her gaze. Even if he still was on his stomach. "I was never just muscles and skin, Tatsumi. I have always had a bit of fat on my bones." she said and ground her butt on his back a bit more. Pressing him down further. "In some places more than others." she said and grabbed one of her breasts with a hand as she met his gaze. As if to taunt him.

"Well, you know, just thought that all those hours of sitting still and writing might have put some more pounds on you." Tatsumi tried to tease back as he tried to squirm around so that he was lying on his back instead.

"If my weight changed in any considerable way, I would notice it immediately." Esdese said and put the folder down on the couch again. "I would be able to sense the difference in strength I would have to apply to move around. Which has not been the case."

"I should have guessed something like that. Still, you do feel heavier than usual." Tatsumi said.

"When I am on top of you I am usually lying lengthwise over you. Now my weight is focused on just your back."

"It feels like your ass is going to be imprinted on my spine."

Esdese giggled. "You know, some of my pets have beaten each other bloody over a chance to act as my chair. You should feel lucky."

"Mmmmm.. nope. Don't feel lucky at all."

Esdese let out an exaggerated sigh. Still smiling. "You are so hard to please, Tatsumi." she said and rose up. Tatsumi turning around on the couch as he breathed out.

He looked at her as she walked over towards the study in her apartments. Probably intending to check how many letters that were waiting for her there on the desks. He started to sit up himself.

Esdese stopped in the doorway that lead into the study. Standing still in it for some moments. Then she froze up completely. Drawing Tatsumi's attention to her in a heartbeat.

She quickly turned her head to the side so that she could look at him. A deadly serious expression on her face.

Tatsumi immediately tensed up at the sight of it. Something was going on.

"What?" he asked quickly.

"Can you feel it?" she asked. Her voice quick and hard.

Tatsumi waited for some seconds. Trying to take in everything he could from his surroundings. But he could not tell that anything was out of the ordinary. "No. I can't feel anything."

Esdese turned around fully. Slightly hunched. Her eyes slowly scanning the room they were in. "We are being observed."

Tatsumi slowly stood up. "Is someone eavesdropping on us?"

"I don't know." Esdese said. "I can't detect anyone in the vicinity of my chambers." She slowly walked to the center of the room. Her naked feet gently touching the floor. Keeping herself completely quiet. Moving as if she was hunting.

Tatsumi just watched her for some seconds. He looked around but this specific room didn't have any windows in it. "Did you just detect it now or did they just start observing us now?" he asked in a whisper.

"I am not sure." Esdese said. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on her instincts.

Tatsumi looked at her as she listened to her instincts. They stood there silently for a long while. Both of them on absolute edge.

Then thirty seconds passed. Then forty. Then a minute. When two minutes had passed, Esdese finally eased up. Her body relaxing slightly as she straightened up.

"It is gone now. It was just very faint and subtle but my instincts definitely reacted to something."

"You sure it's gone?" Tatsumi asked.

Esdese straightened up and shrugged. "It might just have been something else. I just felt like I was being monitored for some moments there. But it disappeared almost as quickly as I felt it. So I am not sure. It was probably something else. It is sometimes hard to tell what my insinuation is warning me about."

"Let's call the guards." Tatsumi said immediately and started walking towards the doors. We need to search through this floor and the ones around it immediately."

Esdese just looked at him as he briskly walked through the room. "You are exaggerating, Tatsumi. It might have been anything. And whatever it was is gone now. I can already tell you that there is no one close to these rooms right now. It was probably something else that I reacted to."

"Tell me the last time your instincts were incorrect and I will admit that I am exaggerating." Tatsumi said as he got close to the door.

"Fine." Esdese said with a sigh. "have your little hunt. But I can already tell you that there wasn't anyone eavesdropping on us."

"Better safe than sorry." he said as he opened the door. Looking back at her.

She shook her head at him and turned around. Walking back towards the study. A bit annoyed at herself for overreacting to such a small premonition. "I will go and read through the letters. You can come by later and tell me how unfruitful your search was."

"Hopefully not." he said and walked out of their chambers.

He quickly moved towards the nearest guard post. He understood why Esdese didn't think that her premonition was caused by someone spying on them.

He hadn't told her yet. Because doing so would raise a lot of questions about how he knew about it. And that would lead to follow-up questions that might reveal some of his lies. He needed to thoroughly fabricate a story before he told her.

But he knew. He was certain that he was still hiding in the palace. A small boy that he himself had allowed into it. One capable of knowing what they were doing and thinking, without having to either hear or see them.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**Ok, so a long fucking wait for what is ultimately a set-up/transitional chapter. **

**I have been swamped with my studies these last weeks. The finals looming large over my back. But that will all be over in about a weeks time. Then I will have some vacation, and during that time, I will try to return this to its original pace. Do you remember those times? When there was a chapter released every 10-14 days. Good times.**

**The manga is also moving forward rather quickly. Though I haven't quite given up on beating it to the finish line. Admittedly, this story has a shitload more things to get done in the same time. So I will really have to crank up my release tempo to accomplish that. We will see. **

**Another thing that the most recent chapter showed us was that the prime minister had something up his sleeve. I always expected something. Maybe not exactly like the anime but something along those lines. One of the reasons why I let Tatsumi hit him in the neck with the fully evolved Incursio before he could react. In case we would later learn that he actually could fight to some degree in the manga. Which this is supposed to be based on. Not that the manga can't still turn around and fuck that up for Bent but not Broken. But maybe less likely now.**

**Many of you have been writing and asking me about the release date. It warms my heart as always. I apologize for not responding to you. These days have been hectic. I will write a release date on the top of this chapter. But it will be preliminary and I will most likely change it. But then you can at least see that things are happening.**

**As always, thanks a lot for reading and staying with this story for so long. All the feedback that I get from this is what keeps it going.**

**Until next time, take care of each other.**


	43. The stone starts rolling

**SORRYYYYYY!**

**The next chapter will be released on the 8th of July. I bet my cat on it!**

(I don't have a cat.)

* * *

**The stone starts rolling**

Esdese's fingers slowly tapped the armrest of the royal family's throne. Her head resting in her other hand. Her legs crossed over each other as she sat on the huge chair at the top of the large podium. She wore a bored expression on her face. Looking down at the leading of the scout forces as he nervously stammered out his report. They were almost alone in the large room. The only other people in it, besides the two of them, was the guards that were stationed by the giant doors that led out of the room and some men from the new imperial guard that lurked some meters behind her.

"The final division did not manage to find any traces of where Makeias' renegade army might be stationed." the man said. Kneeling down in front of the stairs that led up to the podium. "We have been able to find the scattered remains of the revolutionary army. But all those groups were so small that our scout teams could deal with them on their own."

"It was not your task to engage with any enemy at all." Esdese stated plainly.

"My apologies, great general." the man almost shouted and stared down at his knee. "It was such an insignificant act that I didn't deem it necessary to ask for permission first. And in many cases, we ran into them so suddenly that combat became inevitable."

Esdese looked at him in silence for some moments. Letting him feel the fear that was so apparent on him. Then she closed her eyes and waved a hand. "I will overlook it. Go on with your report."

"We have scoured the west and the south. With this our entire mission is complete." the man said. Taking a deep breath before continuing. "We haven't managed to find Makeias' forces. I have failed the mission you entrusted me with. I accept full consequences for my actions. My men are not to blame."

Esdese just stared down at him for a while. The room quiet. "Another failure, huh.."

The leader of the scouts looked up at her from where he was kneeling. Awaiting her judgment.

"I gave you almost fifty thousand men and six weeks. And yet you don't have a single thing to show me for it?" Esdese said slowly.

"No I do not, great general." the man said in his loud voice again. "We have not been able to find any traces of an organized military movement. Guerilla or otherwise. The huge migrations of refugees towards the capital are the only thing we have found that has been out of place. They have, admittedly, made this search harder. We interrogated some of them here and there but they had nothing to give us."

"Makeias' forces should be around two hundred thousand strong. How is it possible for you to miss a force of that size?" Esdese asked and looked up at the ceiling. Thinking about it. She didn't really mean it in an accusing manner. More just thinking out loud. Not that does around her could make that distinction. "As a matter of fact, how does a force of that size avoid us for so long?"

"I am sorry, great general." the man exclaimed. "It is a great shame for me to give you this report. I will with resolve accept whatever punishment you deem fit."

Esdese didn't answer. Leaving the man thinking that he was close to his end as she thought about the situation.

She had not been giving much thought to the pillager and his forces since the death of the prime minister. All her attention had been focused on internal problems within the government and the capital. Seeing to it that everything remained stable. However, she had not forgotten about the rogue general. And now she had started to put some focus on it again. But once more, to no result.

She could only draw one conclusion from this. Makeias spy was still in the palace. Somehow.

Somehow his spy had avoided all the reforms and cleansing that the imperial governmental system had undergone during her rule. Somehow he had slinked through all their nets and traps. Somehow he had remained, when almost all other parts of the imperial government had been destroyed or disbanded. To be replaced with her own people.

She needed to talk with Tatsumi about this. She figured that if they caught this informer, then they would soon find Makeias.

"Ok, that's all I need from you, officer, you can return to your duties." Esdese said and looked down at the man again.

".. what?" he answered and looked up at her. His voice small and silent, for the first time during this meeting.

"You will be assigned a new mission in some days. I have no specific tasks for you at the moment."

"I... I am free to go?" he asked meekly.

Esdese rose an eyebrow at him. "Why wouldn't you be?"

"I.. I failed." the man stuttered. "And the last man that failed a reconnaissance mission like this was killed for it. His head is mounted on the wall into the city."

"He was not executed for his failure. He was executed for lying to me about the results in order to save face. Knowingly giving the military incorrect intel in a very important matter." Esdese explained casually.

It had been Tatsumi that had told her that. He had, in secret, placed some of the men from the new imperial guard in that man's closest circle. He had told her about the man's lies. Tatsumi had complained a lot when she had ordered the man executed. Arguing that a simple demotion or expulsion from the military would be enough. But she would not tolerate that kind of behavior. Not that she had executed him herself. She didn't have time for such entertainment at the moment.

"Have you lied to me today?" Esdese said and looked down at the man.

"I have never lied to you, great general Esdese!" the man exclaimed.

"Then you don't have anything to worry about. And yeah, I don't understand why anything you have told me would be a lie. You yourself stated that you failed completely."

The man looked down at his knee again. "I am sorry, great general."

"Normally this would warrant a demotion or some kind of punishment. But I have a rather strong suspicion that you couldn't have succeeded with this task no matter how well you performed. Since I might have sent you on an impossible mission. So you will not receive any form of punishment." Esdese said and moved some of her hair away. "Now go back to your post."

The man looked slightly shocked. His eyes wide and mouth open. Then he quickly stood up and saluted Esdese. "Yes.. Of course!" he said and bowed down towards Esdese. "Thank you so much, great general." he shouted and turned around. Marching out of the room in quick steps. Esdese's eyes followed him with a disinterested look on her face.

Esdese sat still in her seat for a little while after the man had left. Then she slowly rose up.

"Send some of your men down to the torture chambers later today." she said without turning around to the officers of the new imperial guard that were standing behind the throne. "Some of your better men. They will take Absordex to the teigu armory."

"Yes, great general!" one of them exclaimed. "Have Dorothea passed away?"

"No." Esdese said in an empty voice. But she can neither speak or eat on her own anymore." Esdese said and started to walk forward. "That in itself would not have ended her time with me but now she has stopped reacting to anything that happens. Her soul and mind are dead. Her body will follow soon. I will go and remove Absordex from her now."

The men behind her saluted towards her back as she started to leave them. "So the traitor has finally gotten her just dessert." the man who had responded to her said.

"Not really." Esdese said and started walking down the stairs. "I have just grown bored of her."

* * *

Wave said his final goodbye to his closest officer early in the morning. Giving him his last orders and some encouraging words as the sun was still rising up on the horizon.

He shook hands with him and then with the other of his subordinates that had gathered to see him off. He waved to them a last time as he walked off into the camp. Heading for the area where Tom-Tom and his men resided.

He felt a slight bit emotional to say goodbye to all the people that had become his new friends since his betrayal of the empire. But he had high hopes that they would meet again. After this was all done. Though by that time, it would probably be time to lay of the cape that marked him as their admiral. The cape that Esdese had put on his shoulder.

He felt a slight bit of conflict at the thought of Esdese as he walked through the camp. She had made him into what he was. In many regards, she had turned him from a boy into a man. Through harsh lessons, though trials and some quite extreme punishments for his failures. But she had made him strong. And she had made him understand the cruelties of the empire. Made him understand the differences between himself and her. And how their ideals clashed. But even if she had always been hard on him, he knew that she cherished him in her own way. Or at least she had cherished him.

Not that he felt any hesitation about which road he should take. He was filled with determination. For the good of the people of the empire. For all those that had helped and served him.

For Kurome.

Most of his men were going to travel along with him and the rest of Makeias' forces. He was only leaving a handful of them behind to look over the small fleet that he was now leaving behind. It felt strange to leave such a large military asset behind but ships would be of no use to them in this mission. If this succeeded, then they would hopefully never need to use them for combat again.

He took a deep breath of the cool morning air and increased his pace. Striding through the hectic camp. Everyone in the camp was moving around. Pulling down tents and putting out fires. Usually, they would be hard at work with covering up their tracks but not so this time. Now they were only foraging everything that was worth carrying with them. They did not need to hide that they had been there anymore.

The rather large camp had grown smaller and smaller over the course of the last weeks. During the many war councils that had been held, Wave had learned that the same was true for all of their spread out camps. Most of the troops moving out into position. Now there was almost none of them left in the camps. This was the last big one. And now it was finally time for them to move out as well.

Wave found Tom-Tom quick enough. He was standing in the middle of the ring of large tents that acted as the headquarters of the camp. Leaning on his staff. His tribesmen busy with the preparations to move out. Commotion all around him. Yet when Wave walked up to him, he smiled calmly.

"Good morning, little Wave of the sea."

"Morning, Tom-Tom. How are you?"

"Fine. Just fine." Tom-Tom said in his usual calm and slow demeanor. "Or at least as fine as one can be in this situation. And you?"

"Yeah. Likewise. I must say that I am quite nervous. I feel like they will catch on to us just because of how tense I am."

Tom-Tom chuckled. "Don't worry, little Wave. I have an eye for these kinds of things. And you seem far more composed than many of those that have already gotten into position."

"Seem like a perfect time for me to fuck everything up then." Wave said with a smile.

"Ohh don't worry. That is why we who are a bit more distinguished are moving out last. If we should fail, the bulk of our forces will already be in position."

Wave appreciated the calming words but he held no doubt that if they would fail to join up with the rest of the army, their entire cause would be doomed. "Where is Makeias?"

"The general is over there, behind those tents." Tom-Tom said and pointed.

"Thanks. I wanted to talk to him about a couple of things." Wave said and started to turn around.

"Wave." Tom-Tom said. Causing Wave to stop before he could walk away. Tom-Tom reached in behind coat and brought forth an enclosed bottle. "Give this to Makeias. He needs to drink it."

Wave took the bottle from Tom-Tom. Its content looked like milk tea. "What is it?"

"A precaution." Tom-Tom said. "Makeias drinks one of these every morning."

"What do you mean?" Wave said and looked up at Tom-Tom.

"The contents of that bottle would kill you and me. But Morbus keeps Makeias alive. It is our hope that it will only react to the bacteria in this mixture. And that the basic chemicals will be distributed all through Morbus."

"Why?" Wave asked. Looking at Tom-Tom with worry.

"A precaution." Tom-Tom repeated. "Don't worry. This was Makeias idea in the first place. Though don't talk to him about it." he said.

Wave nodded. Even if he was not sure that he understood what was going on but he decided to not dwell on it at the moment. "I am going to miss you, Tom-Tom." Wave said and looked up at him. "Your calm composure is always so reassuring."

Tom-Tom chuckled. "I have enjoyed your presence as well, little Wave. Your enthusiasm has given me hope for the coming generations."

Wave smiled at the man. Then he took a step forward and hugged the much taller man. His arms reaching around his ribcage. It took a moment but then Tom-Tom's arm that wasn't holding his staff came up and stroked the young man's back. It remained on his shoulder as Wave took a step back.

"Good luck, Tom-Tom. Don't you dare die on us."

Tom-Tom slowly nodded. "Farewell, little Wave of the sea."

Wave looked at Tom-Tom for some moments and then walked away. Not looking back at the old giant as he left.

He passed the tents and walked on in the direction that Tom-Tom had pointed to. When he was out of reach of Tom-Tom's perception, he stopped. He slowly opened the bottle and lightly smelled the contents of it.

At first, it just smelled like warm milk. But when he dared to take a deeper sniff of it, he could feel something behind that pleasant aroma. Something that stung in his nose and immediately made him turn his head away from it. He corked the bottle up. Staring at it for some moments. But then he just decided to move on.

He found Makeias sitting on a large pole. High above the tents. One of many poles that had been raised in that place. Poles were many of the ropes that held up nearby tents were attached to.

Makeias was sitting on top of one of them. Hunched forward. His elbows on his knees. Looking out over the moving camp.

Wave looked up at him. When Makeias didn't react to him, he bent down slightly and jumped up on one of the poles beside the one Makeias was sitting on in a single leap. Landing on his feet on top of it. Standing on it.

"Good morning, general." he said loudly and waved at Makeias.

"Well," Makeias said slowly and looked over at Wave. "it certainly is a morning."

"Somethings got you down?" Wave said in the same cheerful voice.

"I am just not too fond of this sight." Makeias said and turned his eyes out over the camp. "Military forces preparing to move out. Weapons being prepared. Men on their way to die. I have just grown so tired of this song."

"This will hopefully be the last time we will have to hear it." Wave said encouragingly.

"Yeah. Hopefully."

"By the way, Tom-Tom wanted me to give this to you." Wave said and tossed the bottle over to Makeias who caught it with a hand. "He said that you should drink it."

Makeias simply nodded at Wave and opened the bottle. Taking a swig of it. Wave watched the other man's face for a reaction but Makeias' expression was blank.

"The taste doesn't get any better over time." Makeias said lowly when he removed the bottle from his face. He then looked at Wave. "Did you have anything on your mind?"

"Yeah." Wave said. Hesitating for a few moments before he continued to speak. "General, I am still wondering how we will deal with Esdese? This plan covers most of our issues but not her. To me, it seems like we have ignored our biggest problem."

Makeias took some more gulps from the bottle before he answered. "We haven't ignored it, Wave. It's just that we don't have a definitive answer to it yet."

Wave had feared that he would get an answer like that. "General, I think you already understand this but we will never succeed if we cannot bring her down. This will never end until she is gone."

"Ohh it is not that we don't have ideas of how to deal with her. It is just very hard to tell which option that has the highest chance of success. Though admittedly, none of them look particularly convincing at the moment. I don't think there is any warrior that is strong enough to ensure her defeat in combat. And she is too strong and fast for us to be able to outmaneuver her or force her into a corner."

"So we are just going to improvise it?" Wave said in slight disbelief.

"Yeah. Something like that." Makeias said and took yet another swig of the bottle.

"General, it sounds like you are betting the entire nation on chance. Are we really that desperate?"

"Well, it is hard to not be a bit desperate when you are fighting such an uphill battle." Makeias said and smiled at Wave. When the younger man didn't return his grin, he continued. "Look Wave, it's not like we are completely without plans to choose from. Esdese has a very glaring weakness. The only question is, how do we exploit it? Especially since he has grown so strong himself."

"Tatsumi." Wave said slowly as the realization dawned on him.

"Mhhm" Makeias said. "It was only when I first saw Esdese's infatuation with Tatsumi that I realized my chance. Before the first time I saw that boy, I thought that I could never win over her. His presence changed that. Though, annoyingly enough, Tatsumi has grown rather powerful. So the weakness that he presents in Esdese's defense is a bit harder to use."

"Any plans?" Wave said tentatively. He held no ill will against Tatsumi and was more than a little afraid that this would require killing the boy he had come to regard as his friend.

"We have some options." Makeias said and looked out over the camp again. "I don't know if Esdese would give her life for his but I am certain that she would risk it for him. So that gives us some alternatives. She might be willing to go against her own judgment in order to save him. Morbus have infected his arm quite deeply. So if we can just separate him from that goddam teigu of his, then he will be powerless against me. Provided that I am close enough to him."

"Does that mean that it would kill him?" Wave asked. Careful to keep the fear out of his voice.

"Not necessarily." Makeias said slowly. "But it is worth the risk. I'm sure you would agree, Wave. It is a risk worth taking to give Kurome's fate a purpose."

That stopped Wave for some seconds before he spoke. "Tatsumi is a good guy, general. I know that the world only regards him as a traitor and I know that he is a part of the government now. But he is a good man. He is probably just being pushed around by Esdese."

Makeias smiled kindly at Wave. "Don't worry, Wave. We will try to avoid unnecessary deaths. Besides, I know more about Tatsumi's resilience than most people do."

"You do?" Wave said and looked at the older man. Sounding slightly surprised.

"I do. I understood it back during the battle of Garu. And I have since then had it confirmed by Jack. That is why I agreed to meet with Nigth raid before. Despite the fact that it had a high risk of just being a trap. I had hoped that we could either have Night raid on our side, one of their members as a prisoner, or at least some hostages from the revolutionary army to use against him. That, and I also wanted Murasame as a safety against the corruption inside me."

"I understand Murasame, but why would any of the rest help against Tatsumi?" Wave asked in confusion.

"I had hoped to make him change sides yet again. If he did it at the right time, it would end Esdese. But then again, I don't think he ever changed side in the first place. At least not in his own mind." Makeias said and slowly started to stand up on the pole he had been sitting on. A horn blew not too far away from them. Signaling that it was time for them to leave.

"Don't worry, Wave. I will tell you all about Tatsumi and how strong his determination actually is as we travel towards the capital. You will understand all about him before we enact this beautiful con." Makeias said and jumped down from the pole.

Wave jumped down after him. Landing beside the general. Smiling as he rose up. "Looking forward to it, general. Both that and the culmination of your years of deception."

Makeias nodded. "This will be the most glorious of scams. And then, when Esdese is gone, we will finally have a chance to reach peace again."

* * *

"So I heard that you have been training with general Gallus." Tatsumi said in a slightly irritated voice. Kotaro walking beside him towards his destination. Tatsumi was walking with his hands behind his back. Slightly hunched forward.

"A little bit, yeah." the boy said. Sounding slightly guilty but hiding it fairly well.

"Despite the fact that I told you that you would get some combat training as soon as you were proficient in all the more important areas of your education." Tatsumi said without looking at the boy. Keeping his eyes at the long hallway that they were walking through.

"I have been doing everything that I have been told so far. I am just training a little with the general on my free time." Kotaro said.

"Yeah, cause I sure as hell didn't tell you to do it." Tatsumi said. Not able to prevent a bit of his bitterness from seeping into his voice.

"I don't see what the problem is, Tatsumi. Isn't it better if I can at least fend for myself a little bit." Kotaro complained.

"That is not what the problem here is, Kotaro." Tatsumi said and looked behind them. They were followed by the group of warriors that usually followed the little emperor-to-be wherever he went. Members of the new imperial guard.

He considered the situation for some moments. Then he nodded to them. Signaling that they could leave. They stopped following them. Standing still for some moments as the distance between them increased. Then after a while, they started to slowly move away from them.

Tatsumi was a bit unsure of why he wanted this privacy. He guessed that he didn't want Kotaro to try and act though since he was having an audience. He would have to ensure the boy's safety himself now but he didn't feel threatened here in the palace.

"The problem is not that you are training. It is that you are training with general Gallus." Tatsumi said after a little while.

"Why? Don't let his looks deceive you, he knows a lot about fighting. Even if he might not seem as fit as you or Esdese."

"He is an imperial general. Just that title is more than enough of a reassurance that he is a competent fighter. At least now under Esdese's rule."

"Then what is the problem?" Kotaro asked in slightly demanding voice.

"Gallus is..." Tatsumi said and hesitated for some moments. "Let's just say that he is not the best of influences."

"What do you mean? The man is a renowned hero. Don't you know how many lives he has saved?"

"He has done many heroic things during his career. That does not wash away all the bad ones that he has done."

Kotaro looked at Tatsumi for a long while. "Just like all the good things you have done for the empire doesn't wash away what you did as an assassin of the cruel night raid." he said. Watching Tatsumi attentively. Afraid if he had gone too far with that comment.

But Tatsumi only chuckled. Finding the irony in the statement amusing. Since he often held on to what he had done before he joined Esdese as his last truly good deeds. "Yeah, something like that. But unlike me, Gallus has not repented. He is still practicing his more horrible acts every now and then."

"What are you talking about, Tatsumi? What is it that this general has done that could besmirch saving thousands of lives."

Tatsumi looked at the teenager. He wondered if he was in danger of Gallus lustful interest. He didn't think so. He was too old. And even if he was, Gallus was no fool. He knew that he would seal his own doom if he put his hands on Kotaro. He knew that the boy was an important chess piece for him and Esdese.

"Gallus is a big proponent of a very special form of torture, Kotaro." he said silently.

"Isn't your... Isn't the great general also a very big proponent of all kinds of torture."

"There is a huge difference. Esdese doesn't torture simple law-abiding citizens. Only criminals."

"Didn't look like that was what was going on back with Dorothea." Kotaro said.

Tatsumi had to bite his tongue at that. It was very hard for him to not seem hypocritical right now. Both Gallus and Esdese had good sides to them. But they both had horrible parts to them as well. And Tatsumi wasn't sure that Gallus was actually the biggest monster between them if truth be told.

"One step at the time, Kotaro."

"It seems like you are starting in the wrong corner then, Tatsumi. Don't misunderstand me, I find all the torture that this government condones very appalling. But if you truly find it appalling as well. Why haven't you made her stop first of all? Unless you are unable to keep any reins on your woman at all."

Tatsumi sighed. "How little you understand about her, Kotaro."

"What do you mean by that? I think I understand her perfectly." the boy said defensively. A bit of aggravation finding its way into his voice.

"Look, just be careful when you're around Gallus, okay?" Tatsumi said as they walked into the huge hall that was their destination. "He has an unhealthy interest in children. And that is all that I will say about this."

Kotaro was about to ask him what he meant by that but interrupted himself as they walked into the rather large training hall. Since there now were several other people within earshot.

The room was large and mainly intended for sparring matches. Containing several rings. Encircled by fences made out of rubbery ropes and padded poles. There were several people in the room but far from all the rings were occupied. Not even half of them being used at the moment.

They turned a few heads in their direction when they entered the hall. But only a few of them kept looking at them for more than a second or two. The few of them that kept looking at them were only staring at Tatsumi. No one paid any attention to Kotaro.

_Just as it should be_, Tatsumi thought.

No one but a few in the city knew who Kotaro was and why he was valuable. The top of the military and the political scene knew that he was important but not much more than that. The few ones that kept staring were the ones that were aware of who Tatsumi was. Once that might have been a troubling thing for him. When it made it more likely that people would come and try to pick on him. But it had been a long while since the last time that happened.

He started to walk over to one of the free rings. In the middle of the room. Kotaro following him. "Wait, why are we here, Tatsumi?"

"To train, obviously."

The younger boys face shone up at that. "You serious?" he said in a hopeful tone.

"Well, I need to train, at least. I need to keep myself in absolute top shape in order to fight and survive the damage Incursio causes me whenever I activate it fully." Tatsumi said as they reached one of the rings. "You don't have to join me if you don't want to. But you cannot leave my sight so then you will have to wait here until the new imperial guard comes to fetch you."

"I'll join you!" the boy immediately exclaimed as Tatsumi jumped into the ring. Following him into it a bit more clumsily. Eager to finally get to train in something that he regarded as cool. A testament to his inexperience in what real combat actually was.

Tatsumi watched him as he slowly got into the ring. He nodded to the younger man and started top take off his long brown coat. Keeping Incursio strapped over his back.

"Are you going to show me some powerful moves or something?" Kotaro said in an excited voice and took off his jacket as well.

"Any technique or "powerful move" that I could teach you would be meaningless if you don't have the basic body strength to pull it off." Tatsumi said and stretched his arms. "So let's start easy and see what you got. We will go from there." he continued.

"Yes sir!" Kotaro said with gusto.

They spent the next forty minutes testing out Kotaro's abilities. Tatsumi trying what he could do. How strong he was and how quick he could move. Tatsumi feinting attacks and giving Kotaro some chances to attack him. After a little more than half an hour, Kotaro was sweating profusely and had to steady himself against one of the poles that encircled the ring.

"What do you think?" he said between gasp. "Am I a lost cause?"

"No, not at all." Tatsumi said truthfully. Not really flustered at all. Talking calmly as he looked at Kotaro. A hand on his chin. "I actually thought that you would be worse than this."

"Huff.. thanks... I guess." Kotaro wheezed.

Tatsumi smiled a little bit at him. He started to understand how Esdese felt whenever the two of them were being physical with each other. "You still have a long way to go, though."

"At least the means that I have a potential to reach."

"Ohh certainly." Tatsumi said with a smile. "But you should rest a bit now while I exercise a bit more."

Kotaro nodded and sat down against one of the poles as Tatsumi jumped up in a handstand. After that slowly removing one of his hands from the ground. And then raised his remaining hand from the ground so that only his five fingers were touching the ground. His other hand on his back. He slowly started to do push-ups in this position. He had been doing so for almost a minute when an unfamiliar voice addressed him from behind.

"Wow. It is rare to see someone capable of five fingers for so long." the voice of a woman said to him. "I myself can only manage four at best."

Tatsumi looked around and saw that two rather strange figures had walked up to their ring. Standing by the ropes.

The first one was a girl that Tatsumi didn't recognize. Assumingly the one who had talked to him. She was somewhat shorter than himself but not by much. She was a brunette through and through. With straight hair that reached down past her shoulders. She was wearing some sort of shrine outfit. Mostly consisting of red and white. With a hakama and really long arm sleeves.

She was leaning on the ropes around the ring with her hands holding each other. A warm expression on her face.

Behind her stood one of the largest men Tatsumi had seen in a while. He was very well trained and wore military pants and a sleeveless shirt. His skin was very light brown and his hair was white. He was looking at Tatsumi with a far more unfriendly expression on his face. His arms crossed over his chest.

Tatsumi gave them a curious look. "Well, a finger stand is mostly just about proportions. My lover is not able to do this any better than me and she is a far better fighter than I will ever be. I just have some more strength in my hand in proportion to the rest of me." he said and then pushed away with his arm. Jumping up on his feet again. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah..." the girl said slowly. "Could we train some with you? You seem to be the strongest one around."

Tatsumi gave the girl a slightly skeptical look. He could see where this was going but he found it strange.

"You're already two so I don't see how I could help you if you are just here for some basic training and not to study moves. Unless you specifically want a match with me."

"Bingo!" the girl said in a voice that was a bit too sugary sweet for Tatsumi's liking. "It would be lovely to see you fight a sparring match and see what you could do. You seem to be very strong."

Tatsumi was almost about to ask them if they knew who he was. Not out of arrogance but simply because the situation was so baffling for him. This was the first time since the death of the prime minister that someone dared to even approach him without any good reason to do so. And now he was being challenged to a fight by someone he had never seen before.

Either these two had no idea of his actual role in the empire. Or they knew exactly and had some ulterior motive to this. Either way, he felt a little bit doubtful. He didn't really stand to gain anything from a fight. And he had a feeling that the two of them wanted a little bit more than a sparring match with him.

"Don't really see a reason to." he said plainly.

"Ohh, don't be afraid." the girl said in an encouraging voice. "You look strong enough."

"That in itself isn't really a reason to fight." Tatsumi said dismissively.

"Told you." the big man behind her said. "Traitors usually lack a backbone."

"Tcchh. You are just not worthy." Kotaro spoke up from his corner. Having watched the discussion in silence up until this point. "Tatsumi could beat you both with one hand behind his back."

"Yet he doesn't seem too keen to show it." the girl said in the same sweet voice. Giving Kotaro a glance. "Is he shy?"

Tatsumi let out a long sigh. "Fine." he said and turned towards her. "So? Is the two of us that will be fighting?"

"No." the big man behind her said and walked past her. Climbing into the ring. "I will be your opponent."

"Okay then." Tatsumi said and nodded to Kotaro to climb out. "Got a name, big guy?"

"Ivan." he said in a short and hard tone.

"And I am Faye!" the girl that was leaning against the ropes said with enthusiasm.

Tatsumi wondered if he should know who they were. Their names didn't mean anything to him. He looked at Ivan as the large man walked up to him. The man was almost twice as tall as him and he had to weigh at least thrice as much as him. He stopped when he was a little bit too close to Tatsumi. Staring down at his face.

"It's always the big ones." Tatsumi said silently.

"What?" Ivan said.

"Nothing, never mind." Tatsumi said. "Ok, so just a friendly close combat show off, okay? Nothing too serious."

The big man nodded.

"I will act as your referee." Faye shouted happily and waved at them.

"Okay then." Tatsumi said and looked over to see that Kotaro had left the ring. "If we are going to-OHFF"

Tatsumi was interrupted mid-sentence as the big man hit him straight in the stomach without warning. Sending him stumbling backward. The big man followed him as he was regaining his balance. Punching him two more times before Tatsumi could fully get back in control of his body. One hit to face and another to his chest. The man moving in as if he was a boxer. Hitting and withdrawing his fists quickly.

But when he was throwing his fourth punch against Tatsumi, he had managed to regain his balance.

The punch was aimed at his throat and Tatsumi could see it coming a mile away. He moved almost by instinct.

He bowed his upper body in order to avoid the fist. As he did, he put one of his legs into the floor and pushed himself forward. He moved past the side of the big man before he had fully straightened up. Before Ivan had a chance to react. Still pulling back his fist towards his body after the missed punch.

When Tatsumi had passed him but before he could turn around, he kicked him on the back of his knee without turning around himself. Forcing his heel into the back of the man's leg, causing him to fall down on one knee.

As he got up from his kneeling position, Tatsumi took the time to walk a couple of steps away while he regained his composure. Steadying his breath a little. The punch to his chest had knocked the breath out of him and the hit to his head had made him momentarily dizzy. He shook his head lightly and took a deep breath.

"What the fuck was that?" Tatsumi said and glared angrily at Faye. "I thought we said that we would at least be a little bit friendly here."

"A warrior need to be able to sense an attack. You can't blame your opponent for taking the initiative." she said in the same cheerful tone.

"Ohh, so that is how it is going to be, huh?" Tatsumi said and turned around to Ivan who was on his feet and facing him again. "I guess you wanted to avoid a longer fight by knocking me out before I realized that we had started." he said and smiled at the big man.

Ivan didn't answer. Just edging closer Tatsumi in his boxing stance. Tatsumi himself standing in a much more relaxed pose.

"You hit like a fucking tank, though." Tatsumi said and smiled at the man. "But you will need more than cowardly tricks here."

"Don't talk to me about cowardice, traitor. You don't-" he started but didn't have time to react before Tatsumi returned the favor of a surprise attack.

He jumped forward towards his opponent but the moment he was about to come within arms-reach, he pushed his leg into the floor and jumped up into the air. He had reasoned that the weight difference between them wold force him to rely on his speed and his kicks. His punches would probably be a bit too weak to be worth the effort it would take to get them to land probably.

Tatsumi's sudden elevation surprised Ivan and he had no time to react before he had to defend against the kicks.

Tatsumi landed four attacks in quick succession. The big man bringing his arms up to block the attacks. Putting them up at the sides of his head.

He managed to block four kicks to his head before Tatsumi changed things up. The fifth kick hit him in the forehead. Tatsumi using the force of it to push himself away from his opponent as well. Finishing his jump with a backflip. Landing on his feet as Ivan reeled from the strong hit to his head. The entire exchange had happened in three seconds.

"When will we stop?" he asked as his opponent held his hurting head. "Will we just keep going until you can't stand anymore?"

"This will end when you give up." Ivan said and jumped towards him.

Tatsumi was still a bit unsure of exactly how strong his opponent was but he knew that he wasn't that fast. So he decided to wait and observe for a moment.

He simply put his hands in his pockets and started dodging the bigger man's punches. Every now and then taking a step backward or to the side. Slowly moving away from his attacker. It quickly became apparent to Tatsumi that the difference between them was rather big when it came to simple close combat proficiency. And not in his opponents favor.

When the big man had worked up some sweat, Tatsumi stopped being passive and once again moved past him in a single quick leap. Kicking him in the leg when he had passed. Repeating his earlier attack. Forcing Ivan down on a knee once more.

"Have you seen enough to realize the futility of this?" he said in a tired tone and looked at his opponent. "You can give up now or in twenty minutes. The results will be the same."

Ivan looked up at Faye who was watching them. None of them said anything or made any gestures but Tatsumi noticed the look. He assumed that the two of them had an agenda here. They were not just here to try and beat him up as he had first assumed. They wanted something else as well.

Ivan rose up and faced him again. "Don't patronize me, you traitorous scum."

Tatsumi was pretty used to being called a traitor. The sting it had on him was still quite strong. On some days more than others but he had grown used to it. However, he didn't really want Kotaro to hear all of this. He had kept the boy fairly in the dark when it came to his own history. As well as Esdese's. Not that Kotaro didn't know the broad strokes of it but much of the details had been left out.

"Where does all of this aggression come from?" Tatsumi said and scratched his chin. "Have I hurt you in the past?"

"One who betrays his own don't deserve better."

"Yeah..." Tatsumi said absentmindedly and looked up at the ceiling. Still scratching his chin. "I guess you're right."

He hit Ivan so fast that the other man didn't have time to react properly. Striking right into the man's solar plexus. Causing him to bend forward. When he did, Tatsumi jammed his own elbow up into the man's jaw. The strike enough to make him fall backward. Landing on his back. Quickly rolling around to get away from Tatsumi.

Tatsumi slowly walked after him. He knew that while his hits were enough to cause some shock, he had not caused any serious damage.

"I am a rather busy fellow these days. So I would prefer to end this rather quickly." he said as Ivan came to a halt. His back turned against him. "So let's get this over with."

He reached out with a hand towards the big man. Intending to grab his shoulder. But when he did, Ivan spun around. Swinging at him. Wielding some kind of tool. Tatsumi did not have time to see what it was. Blocking it with his hand. Grabbing it by reflex.

When he held it, he saw that it was some kind of baton. He opened his mouth but before he could speak, the electric shock hit him.

His entire body jerked involuntarily at the unseen attack. The electricity making him seize up. After what seemed like an agonizing eternity, he finally managed to let go of the baton. The moment he did, all the anguish disappeared. Even if the damage he had taken did not.

In one swift motion, he kicked Ivan in the side of the head. He spun his entire body around in order to get his heel to smash into the side of the other man's head. Causing the man to fall over as Tatsumi backed a couple of steps off. Massaging his hand.

"What the hell?" he exclaimed as Ivan slowly started to get up again. He looked at Faye, who was still resting against the ropes. Still just smiling at him. "What is the meaning of this?"

She just tilted her head to the side slightly. "You have a weapon too, don't you?"

Her answer made Tatsumi realize what was going on. That was the reason why they were here. They wanted to see Incursio. They had probably come here just to gauge his strength. To see what he could do. And he guessed that it was Faye that wanted to see it.

He didn't know why they wanted this but he didn't feel inclined to give them what they wanted.

Ivan had gotten up again and started to walk towards Tatsumi. Baton still in his right hand. Tatsumi guessed that he had hidden it in his pants. Since he hadn't seen it in his belt.

He looked him straight in the eyes. "If you attack me with that thing again, I will end you."

That made the big man stop. He looked down at the baton in his hand for some moments. Then he dropped it.

Tatsumi nodded. "Even you should be capable of some damn courtesy."

Ivan didn't give him any answer. Simply raising his fists again. Moving in to resume the fight. Tatsumi's eyes following him. Looking unimpressed. He slowly put his hands in his pockets. As soon as Ivan attacked, Tatsumi started avoiding again. Repeating the earlier scenario once again. Not because he couldn't end this much faster but he still had no really wish to cause his opponent any heavy damage. So he once again chose to let the big man tire himself out.

Quite a lot of the people in the room had started to look at the fight. Stopping with what they were doing. Tatsumi was not sure that he liked that.

They kept on with that dance back and forth for almost two minutes before Tatsumi once again decided to demonstrate the difference between them.

With one quick spin, he turned a dodging motion into a transporting movement. Once again maneuvering around his opponent. Past his side.

Ivan was a bit more prepared this time around. Moving to protect his legs. Not really getting in position to do so before Tatsumi elbowed him in the neck. Doing a small jump in order to reach the other man's height properly.

The hit caused Ivan to stumble forward. His head disoriented from the impact. It clouded his reasoning momentarily. Making him do something that he knew that he shouldn't.

Tatsumi noticed that the other man was swaying back and forth rather strongly. He took a step towards him but as he did the other man spun around and threw himself at him. His big arms stretched out. Obviously trying to grab Tatsumi. In order to use how much bigger he was to gain the advantage. But Tatsumi was too quick.

As the man jumped towards him, Tatsumi simply took a small skip backward. Making Ivan fall down on the ground in front of him.

He crossed his arms over his chest. Slowly shaking his head when he felt two small stings in his left leg. He looked down to see that he had been shot by two small needles with wires attached to them. Wires leading to a small device that Ivan was holding in his hand.

Tatsumi immediately realized what was happening and moved his arm down to severe the contact. But he was not faster than the electricity.

Once again his body was wracked with spasms and pain from the electric weapon. Reducing his mobility tremendously. But he did not stop. Forcing his arm down and grabbing the wires.

Ivan seized his opportunity. Sprinting up from his position on the ground. Leaving the primitive stun gun on the floor. Intending to hit Tatsumi before he could recover from the shock.

His fist hit Tatsumi on the side of the head. Causing his body to move to the side. But the jerking of the smaller boy's body also caused the cables to dislodge themselves from his leg. Stopping the electric attack.

And Tatsumi's patience had ended.

Faye was carefully watching Tatsumi's reaction when a large cloud of dust and energy suddenly exploded from the boy's figure. She had to move one of her hands up to cover her face as the strong wind blew against her. Her own instincts momentarily deafened by the wave of power that slammed into her. Some people in the room shouting in surprise.

The next moment, all the ropes that she was leaning on were torn away. Flying to the side. She stumbled forward a step and then took a quick leap backward in order to avoid one of the poles that held the ropes as it came flying past her. The entire ring torn from the floor.

It took a little while before the dust cleared. When Faye was finally able to see Tatsumi again, he was standing a bit away from where the ring had been. The remains of the ropes and poles that had been the ring were lying against one of the walls in a tattered pile. Kotaro had backed far away off from the entire ring as soon as Tatsumi activated Incursio. Now standing with arm up in front of his face. His eyes wide.

However, Tatsumi was not wearing Incursio anymore. The sword was still strapped across his back.

He was holding up Ivan by the throat. The bigger man's legs seemed to have given out on him. It seemed like he had taken a rather heavy hit in the stomach. He was coughing through Tatsumi's grip on him.

It took some moments for Faye to understand that Tatsumi had somehow deactivated Incursio before she had even been able to see it. But she was certain that he had used it. That wave of power she had felt had been enormous.

Tatsumi was breathing heavily. Both because of the strain of fully activating his teigu but also because of the rage he had inside. It had been long since he had lost his temper like this but the adrenaline from the pain had made him go over the edge. He was slowly getting back in control over himself.

But as he was calming down, Ivan made the mistake of trying to attack him again. He raised his fist. Trying to take a jab at Tatsumi's side. But the fist never even got close to hitting its target.

Tatsumi activated Incursio again. Causing the same effect once more. The room filling up with smoke once again. He hit Ivan in the jaw before he could even react. The mailed fist sending the man flying backward. Spinning through the air from the impact. But the moment Tatsumi's fist left his face, he deactivated Incursio once more. He had never been aware that he was capable of this kind of quick changing back and forth. He had just done it by instinct for the first time.

This time, the smoke cleared much faster. Faye using her arms to wave it away in incredible quick motions. But when she regained her sight once more, Tatsumi had since long returned to normal. Ivan on the other hand, was way worse off.

Tatsumi had not held back with that last hit to the other man's face. Using his full strength. Ivan had clearly passed out. He was sprawled out on his back. Fifteen meters away from Tatsumi. The punch had dislocated his jaw and turned some of his teeth into splinters. He was bleeding heavily from both mouth and nose.

Tatsumi calmly walked towards Ivan. Speaking to Faye without looking away from his unconscious opponent. "Were you looking for something?"

Faye straightened up. Her expression serious.

"I don't think you just wanted to see me beat the shit out of your friend." he said in a relaxed voice as he walked. Smiling. "By the way, you might want to call for some medical assistance. Your friend is pretty badly hurt."

Faye didn't answer. She was looking at Tatsumi. Trying to see if he was going to attack Ivan again. Ready to interfere if he did.

"Weren't you suppose to be our referee? Cause this seems to be pretty much over." he said and smiled over at her.

She didn't answer. A lot of the color had started to drain from her face.

"Cat got your tongue?" Tatsumi asked tauntingly.

Then he felt two hands gently slid up over his shoulders and an all too familiar voice whispered into his ear.

"Hit him again, Tatsumi." Esdese encouraged. Her voice filled with that sadistic hunger that he knew so well.

He had not noticed when Esdese had arrived. He had been too focused on activating and deactivating Incursio fast enough. But now that he thought about it, he realized that he should have expected it. She would be able to feel him fully activating Incursio if she was anywhere near the palace. And she would come running pretty quickly. Since she knew that he rarely activated it if it wasn't necessary.

Now she leaned into his back more strongly. Her breasts pressing against his shoulders. Her mouth at his ear.

"Go on. You have beaten him. Claim your prize." she egged him on. "Make him suffer."

All of Tatsumi's bloodlust had drained out of him the moment he heard her voice. All his instincts overwhelmed by her far more potent hunger for violence. Making all his more compassionate sides wake up in fear. He looked at Ivan.

The man was still lying where he had landed. His entire body twitching. His face a mess since his jaw was dislocated. Blood starting to form a puddle around his head. He seemed to be barely conscious.

"I have done way too much already." Tatsumi said bitterly as he looked at the man.

"Nonsense." Esdese said. "You are just getting to the best parts, Tatsumi."

"No." Tatsumi said and took a deep and calming breath. "I am done here."

Esdese looked at his face from the side for a little while before she spoke. "Suit yourself. I guess I will take care of the rest."

She let go of his shoulders and walked around him. Walking up to Ivan. Tatsumi had a feeling that something bad might be coming but before he could speak up, Faye suddenly appeared right in front of Esdese. Moving with a speed that surprised Tatsumi enough to make him hold his breath. Faye putting herself between Esdese and Ivan.

Esdese seemed less impressed.

"Faye." she said and stopped. Resting one of her hands on the hilt of her sword. She nodded to the bloody man behind her. "Is this one of yours?"

"Yeah. He is." Faye said and met Esdese's gaze. Forced to turn her head upwards because of their height difference. "They were just having a friendly sparring match. Your involvement is unnecessary."

"Is it now?" Esdese said. She looked over her shoulder at Tatsumi. "Is that really what this was, Tatsumi?"

"Well, it certainly wasn't friendly." Tatsumi said and wiped the blood away from his chin. "But that is over with now. Let's just leave."

Esdese looked at him for some moments. Then she slowly turned her eyes to Faye. The entire room was silent as the two of them stared at each other. Every single person in it looking at them.

Then suddenly, Faye went down on a knee in front of Esdese. "I deeply apologize, great general." she shouted as she faced Esdese's boots. "I should have intervened sooner. Please forgive my negligence."

Esdese looked at her for a little while longer and then sighed. "You are such a false creature, Faye." she said and turned around. "You will be inaugurated tomorrow. I will expect you to keep better control over your soldiers after I make you into a general again. If you fail, there will be repercussions."

"Yes. Of course, great general!" Faye said with vigor.

Tatsumi's eyebrows rose slightly at that. Realizing that this was the person he and Esdese had talked about a couple of days ago. The one he had urged Esdese to make into a general.

Esdese gave Faye a last look over her shoulder and then started to walk out of the room. Waving two fingers at Tatsumi as she passed him. Signaling him to come with her. He picked up his coat that now was lying on the floor and walked after her. Kotaro following in his tracks.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**I don't know. Not satisfied with where I had to end this but I didn't have the time to attach another "scene" to it. Feels a bit abrupt. Oh, well, have to get things rolling and this chapter grew larger than expected.**

**A couple of people have now asked me to write a fic about Sekirei. Saying that it has a character similar to Esdese. Don't know about the truth of that. Haven't read it.**

** But I enjoy writing about Tatsumi and Esdese's relationship. That is the main focus of this story. I need that slight insinuation of a relationship or pursuit of love as well. I like to write about darker relationships. If that wasn't obvious already. Especially when a darker/evil girl has problems with love. Maybe it is just a power fantasy that I like to live out through writing.**

**Once again, I appreciate all the feedback you have given me. It is always encouraging to see that people are still interested and engaged in this story. It has grown so long and large and you people are still keeping up and still have an interest in putting together the pieces. Even after all this time. Makes me really happy.**

**But your patience will be rewarded. I have no more distractions for a while now. So I am bringing up the pace again. I will now try to release one chapter every 10-14 day for the coming months.**

**Until next time, take care of each other.**


	44. Cat and mouse

**Hah! On time for the first time in... a very long while. And with a few minutes to spare.**

**Seems like I get to keep my non-existing cat.**

**The next chapter will be released 19/7. Now you can trust it.**

* * *

**Cat and mouse.**

The streets were really hot after being bathed in the strong sun the entire morning. Tatsumi could almost feel the heat of the cobblestone through the soles of his shoes. The clear blue sky not offering a single cloud to protect the capital from the scorching sun.

The streets of the city were flooded with people. It was midday and around lunchtime so the commotion was high. People running around to do errands and whatever tasks they could fit into their lunch break. Yet despite how trafficked the street Tatsumi was walking on was, people kept a healthy distance from him. Probably a little bit more than healthy, to be honest. No one seemed to even dare to come within a ten-meter radius of him. An open circle created around him in the crowded street.

Tatsumi would have liked it if he had been the reason for it but he held no such illusion. It was the woman beside him that commanded this amount of respect. And fear. A lot of fear.

Esdese didn't seem to mind, though. Walking comfortably with her arms by her sides. Almost close enough to be invading his personal space but not quite. Consciously walking that line. It was only the two of them inside the empty circle.

"Damn it is hot today." Tatsumi sighed and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"It's a beautiful day." Esdese said calmly and looked up at the clear sky. The heat unable to bother her.

"And hot. Very very hot." Tatsumi complained halfheartedly.

Without looking away from the sky, Esdese moved one of her hands up behind him. Grabbing a very light hold on his neck. Before Tatsumi had time to look at her or react, his entire back became freezingly cold, from neck to buttocks.

"Gaaahaah!" Tatsumi shrieked out by instinct. Jumping forward a couple of steps before he could stop himself. The instinctual reaction to sudden freezing coldness was one of those things that no training could work away.

His shout earned him a lot of looks from the sea of people that were streaming past them. Some even stopping to look at him jumping around.

"Goddamit! Could you at least give me a warning, you crazy woman!" Tatsumi said and turned towards Esdese. But she only smiled at him. Her expression entertained and satisfied.

"Anyway, you were talking about this boy, Jack, Tatsumi." she said and turned her gaze to the street ahead of them. Not slowing down her pace.

"Yeah." Tatsumi said as he calmed down. Falling in beside hear again.

Esdese had come to him this morning to talk about Makeias' spy and how it was somehow able to find out about all that was going on in the palace so easily. But the spy's ability to do so posed a problem for the discussion to take room in itself. So Tatsumi's genius solution had been to simply leave the palace.

Despite the simplicity of the idea, it still held some merit. Esdese's instincts were superb and Tatsumi's was not bad either. They would be able to sense if someone was following them for an extended time. They would be able to detect if the spy followed them. Even with all this people around them. They had brought no escort or guards with them. Only so that the two of them could act as bait to the foolish even more.

And it seemed to have worked. Neither of them had sensed anyone following them for an extended time since they left the palace. Every now and then a group of youths started to follow them from some distance. Just out of curiosity. Drawn to the appearance of the imperial general. Some of them not even realizing that it was the leader of the empire that they were following. But when they had followed them for too long, Esdese dispersed them with a gaze over her shoulder. Scaring them away simply by letting them know that she was aware of them.

So they had been able to have their discussion in peace. Even if both of them were subtly paying a lot of attention to their environment.

"I don't know how Makeias got his hand on the teigu known as Spectator but he did. Somehow."

"When did you realize that he had this teigu in his possession?" Esdese asked. Despite the topic, she seemed to be in a rather good mood. To his surprise.

"A long time ago. Makeias showed it off to me before you killed Budo." he lied.

"And it didn't seem strange to you that he had it?" she asked and gave him a look.

"Of course not." Tatsumi defended. "I thought the imperial court or Budo had handed it to him. What I don't understand is the stupidity of giving what must be the most powerful spy and intel tool in the world to a simple executioner. Someone made a big fucking mistake with Zanku."

"Yeah." Esdese admitted and looked forward. "That wouldn't have happened on my watch. I can tell you that much. However, Spectator was lost to the revolutionary army. Reports suggested that it was due to Night raids involvement. And this should have been when you were already with them."

"It was." Tatsumi said and thought back to that night when Akame had barely saved him from death. It seemed like it was a part of a different lifetime to him. So much had changed since then. "Night raid did give that teigu to the revolutionary army but I simply assumed that the empire had gotten the teigu back somehow. The revolutionary army was already pretty destroyed back then."

Esdese nodded. Satisfied with his explanation. "This suggests that Makeias' betrayal is deeper than we thought. He must have been in contact with the revolutionary army long before he betrayed us. And since then he has turned against them as well. Since we have found the remains and traces of all the small battles that have seemingly erased the revolutionary army."

"Betrayal seems to be his thing." Tatsumi said. "But it is also possible that someone within the revolutionary army sold them out. Since it seems that he has been aware of all their hideouts."

Esdese nodded. It had been a bit disheartening for her to hear about the demise of the revolutionary army. They had been her biggest opponent for such a long time. She was a bit sad that someone else had claimed her prize. She had been looking forward to gathering up what remained of her old rival faction and wipe it out herself. Not that she would talk about such sorrows with Tatsumi. She had learned not to. Only adapting this sort of tactfulness when it came to him.

"You should have told me that he had Spectator."

"I assumed that you already knew. You should have told me that we had a spy in the palace sooner. Then I would have immediately suggested that it was the boy Jack. Which is the one Makeias has given it to." Tatsumi said. Leaving out that it was he who had placed Jack in the palace on Makeias behalf. Even if the boy was beyond his reach now. Gone from all surveillance.

Esdese stayed silent for a while. Her eyes focused on the road ahead. "So how do we catch him?"

"That will be almost impossible. I mean, think about it. He doesn't have to be in the direct vicinity of the information that he steals. He doesn't even have to read it or hear someone speak it. And he probably receives his order the same way. Just by reading the mind of someone that is close by. Hell, he is probably giving them the information in the same way. By projecting the images of what he has found out for them. Giving them the information through the illusions that the teigu is capable of. Even this little walk is not that protecting for us. Since he can find out what we talked about as soon as we return to the palace."

"Maybe we could look for his patterns then?" Esdese suggested.

"Maybe but probably not. There is no need for them to use the same person to contact Jack every time. He probably receives instructions about who's mind he should read for instructions next time. As long as he can even just be close to anyone who is able to be near the palace's gates. It will be impossible to find out those that he work with. Since they don't need to interact in any way."

Esdese sighed. "This is proving to be a rather tough nut to crack."

Tatsumi nodded. "I don't think it could have been tougher. But I think you are right, if we are able to get Jack, then we have defeated Makeias."

"But you do know how this boy looks, right?" she said and gave him a look. He nodded in response "Then we can start a hunt for him. If we put up harder checkpoints on every part of the palace, we should be able to smoke him out."

"Good idea." Tatsumi said. Even though he knew that it probably wouldn't work. Since he had been trying that in secret. Ever since the prime minister's death. But Esdese's command would give some more muscle to his search. "The problem comes back to the fact that he can read the minds of those around him. He will alway be a step ahead of anyone searching for him."

"What about his loyalty then? What is Makeias offering this boy that we can't give him ten times more of?"

"He has been reading the mind of those at the top for months now. He knows what he stands to get by betraying Makeias and he still have not done so. I would guess that Makeias has a really strong hook on him. That or he has been brainwashed." he said. "Maybe we can give him some false information?"

Esdese thought about for some moments but then shook her head. "You can't hide what you know to be the truth behind other things in your head. He will know what is true or not. We could try to send out the wrong information to a lot of our own people. So that they wouldn't know that it was false. But the prime minister already tried that. He seems to be going straight to the source for all his information."

They both remained silent for a while after that. After some time, Tatsumi spoke again. "Well, it is not impossible to catch him by default. If we just hunt for him harshly for a long enough time, he is bound to make a mistake. Sooner or later."

"Or we could just surprise ourselves. So that we don't have the information about catching him." Esdese said.

"What do you mean?" Tatsumi asked.

But Esdese didn't answer. She just stayed silent. Her smile a bit smaller all of a sudden. Tatsumi was about to ask her again but then he noticed it as well.

They were being followed.

And not by normal pedestrians this time. Their followers were concealing their exact location. They did not want to be seen. But they were there. He was sure of it. At least now that Esdese's reaction had confirmed it.

"But I must say, the city is pretty damn vibrant right now. It seems like the large numbers of refugees that have been arriving to the city has done nothing to hamper it yet." he said. Completely diverting the topic away from what they were talking about in order to signal to her that he had noticed them as well.

"Yeah. I will admit that as a leader, it is satisfying to see." she answered in a happy voice. Showing that she had picked up on his message.

They continued their cold talk. Both of them trying to pinpoint where their pursuers were more exactly. Tatsumi had a hard time doing so. They were behind them but he couldn't discern anything more than that.

However, Esdese was more successful. She changed their pace a little bit back and forth. Tatsumi carefully following her lead. Making her able to tell which one of those around them that adjusted their speed to theirs. It took a little time but after a while, she knew that there were three of them. And after some more moments, she had managed to pinpoint one of them.

With a single push of one of her strong legs, she launched herself backwards. Towards her target. Turning around in the air. Tatsumi didn't have time to see who she was aiming until she had already caught him. Flying into the crowd behind them.

The crowd scattered around her. People running away in panic. Some screaming out. Tatsumi had to push some people away in order to reach Esdese. Everyone forgetting who he was now that some panic had ensued. When he reached her, a new ring had cleared around Esdese again. She was standing over someone lying on the ground. Moving on of her hands around. Stretching her wrist. Not even looking down at the one who was lying face down at her feet. There was a trail of red droplets lying on the ground beside the body.

Tatsumi walked up to her. No longer having to shuffle through the crowd. "Did you kill him?"

Esdese didn't move her eyes away from her hand as she opened and closed it. She answered by giving the body a push with her boot. Making the person roll over as Tatsumi looked down at him.

It was a young boy. Still in his teens. Clothed in a brown robe that went up over his head. His nose was broken. Bleeding heavily. The underside of his face covered in blood. His upper lip broken. It seemed like Esdese had floored him with a single powerful punch to the face. The boy's eyes were wide and frantic. Apparently, he had been too horrified to even turn around after the hit. And it showed on his expression. His gaze darting back and forth between Esdese and Tatsumi.

"Ahhh." Tatsumi said. "Just a street urchin."

Esdese's eyes finally moved down to the boy. Her cold eyes threatening. "Who were the others?"

"What others?" the boy stammered quickly. Trying to slowly crawl backwards away from her. "I didn't do anything! Why did you hit me?"

"Why have you been following us for almost ten minutes?" Esdese asked. Her voice so calm that it was scary.

"I don't know." the boy said. Almost shouting it out in fear. "I was just watching what was happening."

Esdese crossed her arms over her chest. She moved one of her feet over towards the boy. Putting it on top of one of his hands. The boy freezing in place when she started to move. Without Esdese using any of her powers.

"You don't know, eh?" she said slowly. Starting to press down on his hand with her foot.

The boy tried to pull his arm away but Esdese was already applying enough pressure to make him unable to get away.

"Defiance is not your best option right now. At least not if you are hoping to have any use of that hand for the rest of your life." Tatsumi advised the boy. He crouched down beside him. "Why were you trying your best to stay hidden while you followed us?"

"Because of shit like this!" the boy shouted at him and tried to pull his hand away. Grabbing it's arm with his free hand. He looked up at Esdese. "I didn't do anything!" he repeated.

"Yes, you did." Esdese said. Pushing her foot down more. Making the boy scream out. "Your interference ruined the hunt for me."

Tatsumi knew what she meant. They had lost the element of surprise when Esdese lashed out like that. They had revealed that they were aware of those who had followed them. Whoever the others were, they were not going to be easy to catch now. They would probably be way more cautious from this point on.

"I think he is telling the truth." Tatsumi said and rose up. Looking at Esdese. "He was probably just unlucky. His good sneaking ability seems to have worked against him here."

Esdese looked at Tatsumi and then down at the boy again. His scared and bloody expression facing her.

"Let's go." Tatsumi said. Gently trying to dismantle the situation. He knew that Esdese probably viewed the kid in the same way she would have viewed an ant. Not really caring whether he lost his hand or not. So as long as the boy didn't do anything to wake her darker sadistic side, he would be fine. "Come on. This kid isn't worth your time."

Esdese sighed and then removed her boot from the boy's hand and walked past Tatsumi. Already bored with the kid. Tatsumi fell in beside her. The crowd parting way for her as they walked away. Leaving the boy behind. Holding his hurting hand.

After Esdese and Tatsumi had walked away a bit and the crowd had started to move again, Akame signaled to Leone that they should keep going.

After a little while, both Esdese and Tatsumi noticed that they were still being followed. But now it was much harder to determine where their pursuers were. But they could both feel it.

Esdese steered them closer to the palace as they continued to talk about everything that didn't have anything to do with their followers or the important issue that they had been discussing. At a couple of occasions, Esdese slowed down her pace so much that Tatsumi thought that she was on to them but then she just increased it again.

"These ones are a bit more difficult than the boy." Tatsumi said lowly after a while.

Esdese nodded. "These are professionals. They are used to the cat and mouse game. They can avoid being detected even when I know that they are close."

"Assassins?" Tatsumi said.

"Most likely. A spy wouldn't go through this much trouble just to eavesdrop."

Tatsumi was already tense and this did not make the situation any easier for him. He knew that there were few assassins left in the empire that had the skill to stay hidden from Esdese when they were this close up. And he knew most of them. He did not look forward to the day when he was attacked by these assassins that he knew, but he had always known that it would come. Sooner or later. And this might be it.

Esdese on the other hand, seemed completely calm. Finding some slight amusement in the situation. "Well, I don't think they will make any mistake now that they know that we are watching for them. So we will just have to wait and see if they have the guts to try something."

Tatsumi simply nodded.

They walked like that for another twenty minutes, reaching the first imperial checkpoint. The first of many as you got closer to the palace. The guards stood still and saluted as Esdese and Tatsumi passed them. None of them really looking at the imperial soldiers. When they had passed the blockade, they immediately came up on a rather wide bridge that crossed one of the larger rivers in the capital. The city continuing on both sides of it.

"Ok then." Esdese said silently. "Let's see what they do."

Tatsumi looked at her as they walked on but she didn't say anything more. When he looked behind them over his shoulder, he understood what she meant.

The crowd around them had dissipated considerably. Most couldn't just walk past the military checkpoint. Most had to wait in line and go through inspection. And as such, the bridge only had five people on it beside the two of them. Their followers could not continue their pursuit without revealing themselves.

When they had passed half of the bridge, Esdese stopped and turned around. Looking back to the side they had come from. Clearly showing their pursuers tha this was completely delibrate.

"I hope they risk it." she said and stared at the blockade. A smile on her face. "But I don't think they will."

Tatsumi looked into the revolving crowd on the other side of the military blockade. The sea of people constantly changing and moving. He tried to search for anything that he recognized but it was impossible. There were too many people moving around. Everyone set for a diffrent destination.

He and Esdese stood there for almost two minutes. Staring into the crowd. Esdese challenging their followers to attack with this obvious move. Tatsumi scared to death that one of his old friends would burst out of the crowd. Weapon drawn and coming for them.

But when two minutes had passed and nothing had changed, Esdese sighed. "How disappointing." she said and turned around. Starting to walk towards the other side.

Tatsumi looked at the crowd for some more moments. But then he turned around as well. Taking some quick steps to catch up with her.

When they had walked for another two minutes and had left the bridge behind them since long, Tatsumi couldn't sense any presence following them. "Did we lose them?" he said and looked at Esdese.

"We lost them at the bridge, Tatsumi. I could feel that they withdrew when they realized the challenge." she said in nonchalant way. "Probably just some fairly competent assassin that was too smart to walk into certain death."

"Why seek us out if they didn't want to fight us?" Tatsumi asked.

"Maybe they were searching for an opening in my defense. Or maybe they weren't ready to attack the both us. They might have been hoping for a chance to just attack one of us. Hoping that we would separate."

"Yeah." Tatsumi said. "You're probably right."

"But that was a bit disappointing. They should have taken responsibility for getting my hopes up and attacked."

"You might be the only person in the world that welcomes assassins to have a go at you."

"There are few people like me." Esdese admitted.

"Excuse me, great general!" a young man shouted. Running towards them from one of the streets that led towards the palace. The man was wearing the clothes of a military courier. He was panting and sweating heavily. Getting down on a knee when he got close to Esdese.

"Great general!" he almost shouted between breaths. "I bring dire and urgent news. The commander of military intelligence is urging you to call an emergency meeting with the military leaders in the capital."

Tatsumi and Esdese exchanged a look and then stared down at the boy.

"What are these troubling news that you speak of, boy?" Esdese asked. Sounding more curious than anything else.

* * *

"We are being invaded." the commander of the military intelligence concluded. "It might sound a bit more extreme than it is but I have no other way of putting it."

The atmosphere in the large room was very tense. Everyone keeping silent. The room itself was adorned with the extravagance that was normal for the higher parts of the palace. All of the generals that were currently stationed in the capital were gathered the long table along with some ministers. Mainly those that Esdese had appointed from the many suggestions that Tatsumi had brought before her.

Guards were standing by the doors in the room and most of the generals had some attendants with them. Kotaro was standing by the wall next to the door. He had not really been summoned but the boy was drawn to anything that Esdese participated in. Tatsumi didn't really mind that he got some insight into how the government worked but the boy's infatuation with Esdese was always a bit worrying.

Esdese herself was the only one in the room that didn't seem worried at all. On the contrary rather. She was keeping her official and commanding demeanor but Tatsumi could easily see that she was as excited as a child on Christmas. He was sitting in front of her. On the other side of the table. Esdese occupying the center of the long table instead of the end of it. Since this was a military meeting.

"How far have they gotten?" Gallus asked. His big hands holding each other over his belly. An untouched glass of water standing in front of him.

"We are uncertain when they crossed the western border." the leader of scouts said from his seat at the edge oof the table. "The attack was completely unexpected and well-organised. Our positions at the borders were overrun before they managed to send a message. And since then, the invading force have moved into the empire as fast as they have been able to. If they are keeping their tempo up, they should be about fifty miles into imperial soil by now."

"So fifty miles before the news of it even reaches us." Gallus said. "They can't possibly be establishing any positions at all. They must be leaving everything behind and just move on."

"It's an ancient tactic." Esdese said with a dangerous smile. "They are attacking without a declaration of war and then try to cover as much ground as possible before their enemy can react. Leaving behind anything and anyone that can't handle the pace. So that they have already won a lot of ground before the answer to the attack comes."

"I was under the impression that the country at the western border had been reduced to a rather sorry state." Faye said. She was sitting beside Gallus. A couple of seats away from Tatsumi. A glass of juice in front of her. Having been promoted to general just the day prior. She was keeping her usual happy tone. As if the fight between Ivan and Tatsumi the other day had never happened. "I thought that our last campaign ruined all their chances of something like a military campaign. Their nation should have been in ruins. Was Faye lied to?"

"I am suspecting that we were all lied to." Tatsumi said. "Do we have any idea of who is leading this invasion force?"

The commander of intelligence spoke up again. "It seems to be a collection of leaders from different tribes and regions of said country. But no names that we have engaged with before. Though there is one man that have been seen on a couple of sites that this army has conquered. He has been easily recognized by our spies and scouts since he had been registered in the military once. He is called.. uhh.. " the man said and read from a paper in his hand." ..Tomarisju-Tomarsasju... I think."

Tatsumi sighed silently. Squeezing the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger. The situation had just gotten a lot more complicated. "Those who know him call him Tom-Tom. He is Makeias' second-in-command."

A light murmur passed through the table at his words.

"Ahhh so that is where the traitor has been hiding." one of the ministers exclaimed.

"That would explain why we couldn't find Makeias' forces when we searched through the empire." the officer of the scouts said. Looking at Esdese for approval. "Makeias left the empire altogether."

Esdese didn't answer him. She was looking at Tatsumi. Her smile hard to read. Her voice soft when she spoke. "And who was it that sent us all the reports and journals about how he had brought the western nation down to its knees with his campaign into foreign soil?"

"Makeias." Tatsumi answered emptily.

Esdese nodded. "It seems like he did a lot more than just fight when he went into the western nation. But it doesn't matter. I will smash them, like seeds in a mortar."

That made Tatsumi look up at her immediately. "Send someone else, great general. There is no need for you to bother yourself with this personally."

"This is the first real threat that the empire has faced for a long time. It will be a good chance to demonstrate to the people that we are still in full control. Despite all the rebels and traitors that are roaming the countryside." Esdese answered calmly. Leaning forward a bit over the table. Crossing her fingers under her face. "I will head out with a handful of my legions and crush them with such force that the entire populace of the empire will be talking about it."

Her words only solidified Tatsumi's worry. He knew that tone. She had decided and it would be hard to change her mind. "You are surrounded by generals, Esdese. Send someone else."

"What worries you, Tatsumi?" Esdese said and smiled at him. "These forces are nothing to be scared about. We have seen them in action before. And if the pillager has joined his forces to them, then all the better. They will not stand a chance against me. You know this."

"And so does Makeias." Tatsumi said. "If Tom-Tom is there then we have to assume that the pillager is part of this. Why would he condone a suicide attack such as this? This is clearly meant to be a distraction."

"A distraction from what, head administrator?" Faye chirped in her usual manner.

"I don't know." Tatsumi said and looked down at his hands. "I just think that we are acting exactly as our enemy would expect us to."

"Sooo.. You mean that we should not respond to this invading army?" Faye said in that same sugary tone.

"I didn't say that." Tatsumi answered with slight irritation. "I just don't think that the great general should be the one dealing with this."

General Gallus nodded. "I would be honored to fight this army for you, great general Esdese."

Esdese eyes didn't leave Tatsumi. Her smile staying. "To what end? What are we trying to avoid by sending a weaker general to take care of this?"

"You are the stronger one but also the most important one. We can't afford to lose you. Then the empire will lose all form of stability. Everything is kept together through your strength."

"What risk are you talking about? This will be a walk in the park for me, Tatsumi."

Tatsumi had a hard time arguing her point. She had grown so powerful that mere numbers became irrelevant when she was leading one side. The only thing that mattered was whether or not there were any warriors powerful enough on the other side that could occupy her in any meaningful way.

"Do we have any idea if any of Makeias' own forces are a part of this invasion army?" Tatsumi asked and looked at the leader of intelligence.

"No, that would be an assumption. The only one that has been seen there that is connected to the pillager in any way is Tom-Tom."

"We have no reason to assume that anyone else from his faction is there." Tatsumi argued. "If Tom-Tom is there, then Makeias does have a part in it. But that doesn't mean that this is his army. He might be hoping that we spread ourselves out. Maybe he is hoping to attack the capital while we are weakened?"

Esdese shook her head at him. "That is folly, Tatsumi. We can spread ourselves out five times more than this and Makeias will still be outmanned no matter which part of us he attacks. He can never win an outright attack at the capital. With or without the participation of me and my personal forces."

Tatsumi knew the numbers. He was more just trying to show her that he didn't want her to do this. And even if Esdese must have understood his position by now, she showed no signs of backing down. But he was not about to give up yet.

"It is better to not leave the empire leaderless why you fight with this in-"

Tatsumi halted himself mid-sentence. He could feel a foot moving up between his legs. Stroking against his inner thigh as it moved towards his crotch. And he could see in Esdese's eyes whose foot it was. "..insignificant foes." he finished in a steady voice.

"I can do many of my duties from the front. I will delegate that wich I can't to Gallus and you, head administrator."

Gallus bowed his head slightly while Tatsumi just looked at Esdese. Working hard to keep his stone face. Her sole grinding against his groin with an uncanny precision. Her own head resting in one of her hands. Smiling at him in an amused way. Tatsumi knew that Esdese differentiated greatly between her duties and her pleasures. Even if they often were one and the same. She wouldn't be bothering him like this if she had considered the rest of the discussion important.

She had already decided what was going to happen.

Tatsumi cursed the situation in his head. If he had only had some time to talk to her about this before the meeting. Then he might have been able to dissuade her from this before it was brought into the public eye.

"I still think th-" he said and halted himself again as Esdese's foot suddenly applied more pressure to his more sensitive parts. He held his expression like a mask but had to stop for some moments.

"What do you think, head administrator?" Esdese asked as her smile grew. Tilting her head to the side slightly. Her eyes full of glee.

Tatsumi tried to shoot her an angry look but that only seemed to make her increase her foot's harsh treatment of him. He couldn't really move his hand down under the table to stop her without drawing attention to the entire situation. He decided to give up on this battle. For now at least.

He shrugged. "I consign myself to your wisdom, great general. But I have one objection. If you are leaving for the field, then I am coming with you. I will not remain in the capital."

That stopped her foot's movement. She looked at him in silence. Still smiling as everyone in the room looked at her.

"The rest of you can leave." she finally said. Her eyes not leaving Tatsumi. "I have no further need of you right now."

The generals and ministers all rose up from the table around them. Saluting or bowing to Esdese before taking their leave. When they had left with all their attendants, Esdese looked over at Kotaro. "You as well, Kotaro." she said and nodded towards the door.

It looked like the boy was going to object but then he thought better of it. He saluted her and then walked out of the room. When he did, the last of the guards left the room with him. Closing the doors behind them. Leaving Tatsumi and Esdese alone in the big room. Tatsumi didn't waste a second.

"Listen Esdese, I know that you are desperate for a chance to flex your muscles a bit but I think that there is something else going on here." he said as Esdese slowly straightened up. One of her hands moving towards him. He didn't stop as she reached across the table.

"You always said that Makeias was a schemer. No matter how you look at it, this-" he continued as her hand grabbed a hold of the collar of his shirt. She started to pull him over the table. Slowly dragging him across it as she rose up. Tatsumi offered no resistance. Continuing to speak as he was gliding over the wood. "-is not a smart move in and of itself. It is probably a part of something bigger."

Esdese rose up fully as she lifted Tatsumi to her face. So that his feet that had been dragged across the table could fall down on her side of it. He opened his mouth to speak up but when he did, Esdese bit down on his lower lip. Quickly darting in. Putting her forehead against his as she tugged his lip a bit back and forth. Her mouth forming a threatening smile.

"So you just couldn't stand the thought of being away from me for so long? Whatever am I to do with you, my hopeless little Tatsumi?" she said through her bite.

"If this ish a trap of shome short, then I want to be with you when it shpringhs. Shhoo you don't do anything shhtupid." Tatsumi slurred without his lower lip.

Esdese pulled a little bit harder on him and then let go. "Well this is perfect then." she said and started to lower him onto the table. Moving down after him.

"I still think it is a bad idea to leave the empire's government without a leader for so long." Tatsumi said as he was laid down on the table. Esdese bending down over him. A hand on the table beside his head.

"I will be able to call some decision through messengers. And I will set up directives and plans for what should be done in my absence." she said calmly as she slowly lowered herself down towards him. "And we might actually confuse Makeias' spy by doing this."

Tatsumi eyebrows rose slightly. He hadn't thought about that. If Esdese was out in the field and issued orders to the army without going through the capital, then Jack would be forced to either come with them or give up on tapping into all of their communication. He smiled up at her. "Sometimes I forget that you actually have some brains to you as well, ice queen."

"It is not that hard of a move to figure out. But this might also allow me to catch some of Makeias' followers. I am sure that I can figure out quite a lot of things if I get to spend a day with this Tom-Tom and some of my tools."

"Ok, I will admit that you might have figured out some strategical benefits to this. But I know that deep down, you are just hungry for some old fashioned violence."

"I will still be doing my duties, won't I?" Esdese said as she lowered herself more over him. "You have nothing to complain about. I will let you come with me. You can oversee the communications with the capital."

Tatsumi moved his hands up on her back. Slowly moving them down over her lean and strong back. "And I get a front row seat as you slaughter these poor wretches. Yay." he said sarcastically.

"Come on now, Tatsumi. It has been more than a year since I participated in my last proper battle. I have been completely shut in these halls for the last months. This was just what I needed." she said. Her hair falling down all around Tatsumi as she bent down and started to kiss his forehead. Her tongue moving across it in slow and strong strokes.

"So what you needed was another massacre?" Tatsumi said.

"I need a good fight. As you said, a chance to flex and flaunt my powers. I will give this foolish little force a show of the likes they have never seen as I crush them."

"I am sure that will be a good consolation for them as they die." Tatsumi said.

"Well, I was never concerned with them." Esdese said as her lips moved down towards his mouth.

"Of course not." he answered as she placed her lips on top of his.

After a moment, Esdese was starting to get really into it but then Tatsumi surprised her.

SMACK!

Esdese's head jolted up from his. A surprised look on her face. She looked down at Tatsumi for some moments before turning around slightly. Looking at the hand that had a firm grip on her butt. Holding on to one of her now tensed up butt cheeks.

"Did you just spank me?" Esdese said and turned back to Tatsumi. Smiling. "Like I was a little girl or a common whore."

"You must be imagining things." Tatsumi said with a wry smile and squeezed her behind a bit more.

"Ohh you want to be like that. huh?" Esdese said and laid down fully on him. The wood in the old table starting to creak with her movements.

Outside of the closed doors to the room, Kotaro stood alone. Waiting. His eyes closed. Listening to the faint sounds that made it through the doors. Moans and grunts. The occasional giggle and slapping sound.

His hands were closed so hard that his nails drew blood as he fought against the tears.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**I kinda like this better. Slightly shorter chapters but more regular releases. Makes the story seem more alive. Can hopefully make it easier for those that read this story but don't accounts. The next one will take a couple more days though. It will need to be a little bit larger. **

**I apologize to all those that have sent me pms. I will respond to you all in a day or two. Have had to focus on getting this done first and foremost.**

**And yes, I hear you, all my little perverts, I have read your messages. Proper lemons are coming, don't worry about it. Probably rather soon. Considering how I usually pace them out within this story.**

**Thanks for all the reviews and feedback, The response to the last chapter has been insane. And is a large part of why I actually managed to release this on time. It fuels me.**

**Until next time, take care of each other.**


	45. The western incursion Pt 1

**Ahh! Missed the deadline with some hours.**

**The next chapter will be released 29/7!**

* * *

**The western incursion. Pt 1**

It was still morning when Esdese marched out through the gates of the palace with some of her forces. The rest of her personal legions waiting for them out in the fields.

She was calmly riding a large white stallion in the front column of the cavalry that made up the first part that moved out of the city. The infantry coming up behind the cavalry in the long military procession. A lot of people had gathered to cheer for them as they left. Gathering around the sides of the large road that the force occupied. All the way from the palace to the huge main gate that led out of the city. Confetti was raining down on the marching soldiers. The civilians waving flags and shouting encouragement.

Tatsumi found it all a bit sickening. He could understand that the people and the soldiers needed this encouragement. It was a way to cope with the brutality of what marching off to war meant. That these soldiers might never return. And that many of these civilians would never see their family members again. He understood all that. But he was a seasoned veteran when it came to violence and combat. And he couldn't help but feel that all this merriment also served the purpose of turning a blind eye to what the situation actually meant.

He was riding a couple of lines behind Esdese. Out on her left side. A couple of military leaders and advisors placed between him and the great general. This was a military operation and Tatsumi held no ranks or authority in the military. The title of head administrator that Esdese had made up for him did little more than make him a part of the government. So he was consigned to ride a few ranks behind her. Even if most at the top knew that he was one of the most influential forces in the city.

Not that Tatsumi minded. He almost preferred it this way. Now he could relax and observe the situation. Looking at the crowd and the environment in leisure. Since he had fewer eyes on him now. Unlike Esdese.

She was riding a few steps in front of those behind her. Sticking out in front. Tatsumi could easily tell that she was enjoying the attention. She had always been a show-off and there were no one that had more eyes on them than her at the moment. He couldn't deny that she deserved the attention, though.

Her long hair was blowing slightly to the side in the wind along with her long general's coat. Her hips and lower body moving in a slightly suggestive manner. Swaying forward and backward as she complacently rode forward. Her head held high and her chest puffed up. She smiled her more radiant smile out at the crowds and waved at them every now and then. Her stunning appearance being awarded by cheers and people shouting her name in unison as she passed them by. She knew how to charm the crowds.

It almost hurt Tatsumi a bit to see her like that. She looked so much like a true leader. A beacon for people to rally around. An incarnation of beauty and might. It stung him to see. As it reminded him of what she could have been. Just as it reminded him how different the world would have been if she only was what all these people saw and nothing else.

Tatsumi looked at her back almost all the way through the capital. Thinking about her and him. Where their road was heading. And what the end of it might be. He had never thought that he would get this far. So he had never even thought that he would face the problems that he now had to face. And he had already noticed that his old conviction had become more unsteady than ever. It scared him greatly.

When they finally reached the large gate that leads out of the city, they were met by a coalition of the leaders that would stay behind. Gallus and Faye standing in front with some of the ministers standing behind them. Surrounded by warriors from the imperial guard and soldiers from the city watch.

However, when Tatsumi looked closer he could see that Kotaro was there as well. Standing just a step behind Faye. Beside a bandaged up Ivan. This was the first time Tatsumi had seen Ivan since their fight. The lower part of his face was covered up in bandages. He was resting a gentle hand on Kotaro's shoulder. Tatsumi didn't like that one bit. He also couldn't help but notice that Kotaro was standing very close to Faye's back.

Tatsumi had not told the boy to be here. Not that he had ever indicated to Kotaro that he didn't want him there either. It was the fact that he was standing so close to Faye that bothered Tatsumi. His sources had not informed him that the two of them had had any contact with each other. It didn't sit too well with him. A young, inexperienced and lonely teenage boy could be rather easily be affected by a beautiful woman. Leone had thought him that lesson the first time they met.

He looked at Faye but she just smiled her usual carefree smile.

"General Gallus!" Esdese called out loudly as she steered her steed up to them. "I am heading out to crush these foolish invaders. Until my successful return, you will hold the capital for me."

Gallus bowed deeply and answered just as loudly. "You honor me, great general. I will defend it until I am relieved. Either by your words or by a death in the city's defense."

The crowd roared in approval. Gallus being somewhat of a legend in the eyes of the commoners. Tatsumi listened with disinterest. This was just a show for the people. All the details and orders had already been decided during many meetings the days prior to this. Gallus would be the one in direct control but he had very clear guidelines about what he should do. He had to send messages and ask for consent and authorization from Esdese if he wanted to divert too far away from those guidelines. Tatsumi listened as Esdese and Gallus had their discussion.

From far away, Night raid was also watching the discussion unfold.

They were at the top level of a tall clock tower. Standing beside its big iron bell. Far away from the gate in question. Sharing two binoculars between the three of them.

"It seems like our intel was right. Gallus and Faye seems to be staying behind in the city." Leone said as she looked through her binoculars.

"Mmhhmm" Akame said and nodded. Currently being the only one of them without a set of field glasses. Looking at the scene without them. Her back leaning against one of the four pillars that held up the roof above the giant bell.

"But both of our main targets are leaving." Isamu said and lowered his own binoculars from his face. Currently crouching down beside her. "Esdese and Tatsumi are both leaving the city. Are you sure we shouldn't follow them?" he said and looked up at her.

Akame shook her head. "Unless Esdese is killed out in the field, she will return. And most likely Tatsumi with her. We have been able to establish a good base here in the capital. We should stay with it." she said and held out her hand. Taking the binoculars as Isamu gave his to her. "Besides, it's not like we don't have other targets to take care of in the city in the meantime." she said and moved the binoculars up to her face. Looking at Gallus.

"Wait." Leone said. "Who is that kid standing with one of the generals?"

Akame moved her gaze from Gallus to Kotaro, who was standing beside Faye. "I don't know. Probably some noble's kid who has gotten a chance to stand beside the generals in return for some favor."

Leone didn't seem convinced. "On a big ceremony like this? Under Esdese's rule? I doubt it."

"Maybe you're right." Akame admitted. "Might be worth looking into either way."

"Soo..." Isamu said and stood up. "Who will be our main target in the meantime?"

"We will see." Akame said as she kept looking at those at the gate. "It would be preferable if we could take down general Gallus or Faye but we will have to see what opportunities that we get. If they stay huddled up in the palace during the entirety of Esdese's absence, then we will not be able to deal with them."

"Tatsumi looks bothered by something." Leone said.

Akame shifted her gaze to the boy that had once been her comrade. She could see what Leone meant. It was not discernable at first glance but both Leone and Akame knew Tatsumi's expressions well enough to tell that something was bothering him.

"Maybe he doesn't like being around Gallus that much. He must be aware of what that man is by now." Akame guessed.

"How could you be bothered by being near a rapist when you share the bed with one who both condones it and also is an inventor of other torture methods." Isamu said. Sounding skeptical. Leaving out that he had once been trying to get into that same bed.

Both of the other Night raid members stayed silent for a while before Leone spoke up. "Fair enough. But something is bothering him." she said. They both kept looking at Tatsumi as the procedure went on in the distance.

Tatsumi himself was in deep thought. Trying to determine just how much he should read into Kotaro's participation. But before he could reach any conclusion, the discussion in front of him was over and Esdese pulled at the reins of her big steed.

"I bid you farewell, people of the capital. Await my glorious return!" she shouted out to the crowd. A roar of applause and cheers answering her shout. She turned her steed around and the military procedure started to move out of the city.

Tatsumi followed her with his gaze for some movements before he spurred his horse on. Watching her smile as she steered her large white stallion out of the gates. He knew her horse since before. It was a wild and fierce animal. All of the head grooms and stable masters had said that the horse was untameable. Which had made Esdese pick him immediately. Now he was bent to her will. Following her commands obediently.

She had several flying creatures at her disposal but ever since she had lost her favorite one to Akame, back in Garu, she hadn't found one that she particularly liked. Losing a steed was not something new to her. She had already survived a lot of them. But all the flying ones she had caught and subdued since Garu had been weak of will and spirit. Their surrender giving her no real satisfaction. While her stallion might be a rather small animal compared to those creatures, he was still much more of a fighter. Still putting up a struggle whenever it felt that he was being mistreated. Even after many harsh lessons. Which had made Esdese take a liking to him.

If he survived long enough then she would let him breed properly. So that his strength could go on in his offspring. That would be her reward for his service. If he survived.

Tatsumi calmly followed her some ranks behind on his own horse. A far calmer and gelded animal. A creature of mild demeanor even if Tatsumi knew that he could still trust on its strength if push came to shove.

They rode through the huge gates and out on the vast fields outside of the capital.

On the other side of the wall that encircled the city, a huge mass of people was spread out on each side of the gate. Giving room to the passing military. But this crowd was not cheering or applauding. It was all the refugees that had gathered this morning. Waiting for the procedure to be over so that they could continue to move into the city.

Tatsumi was surprised to see how many that had gathered just during this morning. He had read the numbers but it was something different to see them with your own eyes. Just in this short waiting time, they had already established some tents and campfires. Most of them now only followed the force that moved out of the gates with silent stares. Some friendly. Some not so.

Most of them were huddled over but Tatsumi couldn't help but notice that a large part of them seemed to be in a rather good condition. Some even seemed to be well-trained. To his relief.

Far in the distance, they could see smoke rising on the horizon. Where the rest of Esdese's personal legions waited to join up with them. To then march towards the western incursion. And the battle their meeting would bring.

* * *

The sun had almost reached its highest point in the sky when Tom-Tom climbed up the small hill where the captains and warlords were having their meeting.

He had two of his tribesmen behind him. Acting as the guards that he knew that he didn't need. But he also knew that he needed to keep up appearances. These warlords and tribe leaders were surprisingly vain. Even if they wouldn't admit it. Since their vanity took on some different forms. But he knew that if he didn't at least bring two guards or attendants, then they would start thinking that he was having problems back in his camp.

He shook his head. Muttering something inaudible as his knees troubled him. He was getting on in the years. And his knees didn't allow him to forget it. Even if most couldn't see that his age was taking its toll. But he could feel it. In every move he took. Not that it was too much of a bother yet. He was still faster than anyone else in his tribe. A tribe that prided themselves on their speed and reflexes. But he had noticed that he had a hard time keeping up his top speed for as long as he had once been able to.

_But that is just as it should be_, Tom-Tom thought. He had already lived far longer than most of his kind did and he was still in surprisingly good shape.

He would not curse death when it finally came to him. He had already survived so many people that he shouldn't have outlived. He just hoped that he would be able to see this monstrous conflict to an end before his time came. He didn't want to leave it to the younger generations. They shouldn't be burdened with the wars of their parents.

He kept muttering to himself as he walked into the ring of warriors and soldiers that had gathered around their leaders. At the top of the hill. He walked through the crowd and into the ring in the middle of it. His two tribesmen following him into it.

"They say that you are so quick that you are able to see the future, Tom-Tom. Yet you are usually the latest one to arrive at our meetings." lord Belwarck said as a welcoming. He was a big man. Still in his youth. He was always pretty brash but Tom-Tom liked him nonetheless. He knew that the youngling's heart was in the right place.

"I had things to get done, my lord. My apologies." Tom-Tom said and took his place amongst the tribe leaders and warlords that were standing in the ring.

There were eight of them there. Though they were supposed to be nine.

"Where is Ulvik?" one of them asked harshly.

"He won't be coming, my lord." another warlord answered. "My brother and his fellow tribesmen held a great feast yesterday. To celebrate our latest conquering. I imagine that he will be spending most of this day in his carriage." Ulvik's brother excused. He was the leader of yet another tribe. Tom-Tom thought that Ulrick was his name but he couldn't quite remember.

Some of the leaders grumbled at that excuse.

"What conquering is there to celebrate?" one of the tribe leaders said. A man hardened by battle. Yet still prideful and easy to slight. "We haven't had a proper fight during this entire conquest. And by what right does he ignore one of these meetings when everyone else forces themselves to attend them"

_They are sensitive in their own ways, these men of war_, Tom-Tom thought before speaking up. "Let's begin without him then."

Most heads nodded at his words.

Tom-Tom and his tribe had always held a very revered position in the eyes of the other western tribes and warbands. Mainly because of their physical abilities but also because they had been a rather peaceful and nomadic tribe once. Something that was hard to be in the western lands. Though the empire had changed their position. Through Makeias' hand.

"Okay then." Ulrick spoke up first. Taking a step into the ring of leaders. "I want to suggest that we execute the prisoners we have taken and stop taking any more from this point on. They are slowing us down and I don't think we stand anything to gain from them."

The leaders mumbled approvingly. Many of them nodding. Causing Tom-Tom to speak up.

"Just let them go instead." he said slowly. "Killing them serves no purpose."

Ulrick turned to him. "Why? Then they will just reorganize with the enemy and we will have to fight them again. Better to kill them and rid us of that risk."

Tom-Tom shrugged. "I don't hold any power over you, warlord. I can't tell you what to do with your prisoners. But you as well as I know that we will always be outnumbered against our enemy when the real battles come. A few prisoners here or there won't cause any noticeable change on those scales."

"If it doesn't make any change then why don't we just kill them?" another warlord said. His name escaped Tom-Tom at the moment.

"For the sake of mercy." he answered in his low and raspy voice. "For the sake of respect between enemies."

Ulrick turned to him. His voice earnest when he spoke. "Tell me, wise Tom-Tom. Will we be shown the same mercy if the empire catches us? Will we be shown the same respect if we let these prisoners go?"

Tom-Tom slowly shook his head. "No matter how respectful or how merciful we are against this enemy, it will not change its behavior. If they catch us alive, they will be as cruel and disrespectful as their imagination allows them to be. Such is the nature of the imperial military under the ice queen's rule. The reward for the victorious is the suffering of the defeated. Nothing we do will change that."

Ulrick's expression had gotten bitter. He nodded to Tom-Tom and then turned around to the others in the ring. "I say we chop their heads off and then catapult their skulls at their allies when we meet them again!" he shouted.

The other leaders in the ring shouted in approval. The crowd around them echoing the loud shouting of their leaders.

"Every leader might do as he pleases." Tom-Tom said calmly. Trying to sow the possibility of mercy into the situation. Everyone growing quiet when he spoke. Trying to hear what he was saying. "Such is the law of this alliance."

"Hear hear!" some of the warlords said in response. Those who found their own independence very important.

"Aye!" answered some others. Simply to acknowledge the truth of it.

None of them held any power over anyone else in this circle of leaders. All were there on their own free will. The nation that they all belonged to was little more than it's soil and had been so since long ago. Its government system had broken down before some of the warriors that had gathered here had even been born. Crushed by the economic and political power of the empire. Since then, the people of these lands followed many different leaders. Warlords, tribe leaders, rich merchants that held dreams of ruling. But every now and then, all of the leaders gathered and formed an alliance.

It was such an alliance that had assaulted the empire so long ago. Prompting the imperial power to send an army led by Makeias to suppress them. And now the country's different leaders had gathered again. This time because of the promises of the same general.

"Well then, we have some other things to discuss." lord Belwarck said loudly and walked into the ring. Smacking one of his hands against his belly as he did. Ulrick backing back into his place in the ring when the other man walked into its center. "The empire has finally answered. A force is marching against us in this very moment. They set out from the capital earlier this morning."

"How large is this force?" Ulrick asked.

"According to what we know, not that big." Belwarck responded. "They don't even double our numbers."

The crowd seemed elevated to hear that. "We are being underestimated!" someone in the back called out. Those around him shouting in approval.

The truth was that everyone in this gathering had always known that the empire could send an army that was ten times the size of their own. Most had expected a lot worse than this.

"Though I must admit that we don't know who is leading them." Belwarck continued.

Tom-Tom felt the need to speak up. He had known who would be leading this force since a couple of days back when he got his letter from Makeias. "Esdese leads those that are marching against us."

The crowd grew considerably less cheerful at the sound of this. Most looking at Tom-Tom. Lord Belwarck one of them. "What does this mean?"

"It means that the very second that we can see their flags on the horizon, we must call a full retreat of all our forces." Tom-Tom said. "Probably separating them as we do."

If his previous announcement hadn't caused the atmosphere to die, his words now did. The entire crowd growing silent.

"Retreat? Without a battle?" one of the younger ones in the ring protested after a little while. "And give up all that we have gained and conquered?"

"Aye." Tom-Tom said and nodded. "Without a fight."

"How much of a difference can one general make?" Belwarck asked and looked at Tom-Tom.

"I have been told that she is only in her mid-twenties." Ulrick chimed in.

"I was born before most of your fathers, my lords." Tom-Tom said slowly. "You all look like kids to me. But don't let her age fool you. She has known nothing but blood and battle since she was a very small child. During her life she has seen more violence than most of you combined."

"That bad, huh?" another of the tribe leaders asked.

"With the forces we have, there can be no victory against Esdese. With or without an army to accompany her."

The mood in the gathering had turned sour. Some looked defeated while some clearly doubted his words. Whispering and mumbling to each other. Tom-Tom had expected as much.

"How do you know this?" Ulrick asked.

"I have seen her in action a couple of times."

"And she lives up to her rumors?"

Tom-Tom nodded. "Some of you have seen what a capable teigu user can do to a gathered force when you faced Makeias. Esdese is many times worse than that."

"And exactly where is the plague lord now, when things are starting to grow dire?" Belwarck said. Anger creeping into his voice. "We swore ourselves to him because he spared us during his military campaign. We kept calm and waited because of the promises he gave us. We united and attacked when he gave the signal. After waiting for all these years. And now that our real enemy is approaching, he is nowhere to be seen."

"Makeias is preparing to seize the opportunity that we have given him."

"And we are supposed to just give up on all that we have gained? We have sacrificed a lot to make this march and gain this land." one of the lords on the other side of the ring said. Many mumbling their approval of his question. Someone shouting from the back.

"If we leave at the first sign of the enemy, then we are nothing but simple marauders and raiders. Not conquerors."

"Simple plunderers." another voice agreed.

"Pillagers!" a third one shouted.

"My lords." Tom-Tom said in a louder voice and walked into the ring of people. Taking the center himself. Belwarck backing off as he did. "You all knew that this was how it would end. No one of you truly believes that we can topple the entire empire with this meager force."

"We would have better chances to defeat them if the plague lord was here with us." another voice called out from the back.

"Better chances." Tom-Tom echoed. "But not good enough chances. Our defeat would still be almost guaranteed. General Makeias is right at this moment taking advantage of our diversion. He has promised you a future. Peace. The end of the oppression. And you all gathered here because you believed in that."

"So if we don't flee, we are just going to be sacrificed for this dream?" Ulrick said bitterly.

"Listen to me, leaders and warlords." Tom-Tom said. His voice growing gentler. "I know that it is hard to give up all this that you have gained during the last week. You have suffered nothing but defeat, humiliation, and starvation over the last decade. Death and decay. I understand that it is hard to let go, now that you have finally started to win something back. For the first time in years. But it is that or certain death."

He looked around him. At all those staring at him. He let silence rule for a few more moments before he spoke again. "But if we retreat at the right time, and give up all that we have taken immediately, we might survive. And the time we have bought might allow us to win an even greater prize."

"Flee, you say." Ulrick said slowly. "But will we even be able to get away? We have been doing a forced march for almost a week now. Leaving behind everything we can and pressing our forces to the limit. Will we be able to outrun the fresh and well-rested force that is approaching us?"

_You may outrun them but you will never outrun her_, Tom-Tom thought. "We will have a good head start. And I doubt that they will pursue us for long. They will probably be satisfied with scaring us away. If we get close to the borders, we should be fine." he declared loudly.

Everyone was quiet for a little while after that. The different leaders and warriors looking at each other as his words sank in.

"We are all free to do as we please." Belwarck said. "But it would probably be prudent if we all decide on a single course of action here. Otherwise, a single tribe or people might be standing alone when they believed that they would not be."

Tom-Tom nodded. He knew that he had them. They would retreat. They just needed to argue about it some more in order to show their dislike for the strategy. To show that they were not afraid.

Not that there wasn't an underlying bitterness and grief over the situation among them. He could feel it as well. But they had heeded his words. To his relief.

He smiled a sad smile at them as they started to discuss amongst themselves about what they would do. All of them heading for the same conclusion.

These were his countrymen. This was where he came from. It felt like something ha had lost long ago. It felt like home.

These warriors and tribe leaders were his people. But he doubted that a single one of them would survive this.

* * *

Esdese sighed with satisfaction and rose from the bed.

"That was wonderful, Tatsumi" she said as she sauntered over to one of the cupboards in her tent. Taking a bottle of wine from it along with a wine glass. She walked over to the table closest to her and opened the bottle. Pouring herself a glass. The furniture in the tent was not the kind of luxuries that a march usually allowed for but there was always an exception for the generals.

Sometimes she longed back to the simpler days. When traveling meant that you slept on the ground and had to hunt for your food. She found that kind of lifestyle gratifying on some deep, primal level. Not that she didn't enjoy the luxuries she now had. They had their own charms and benefits.

She drank the wine with closed eyes. Just enjoying the moment. There was a light breeze that still made it into the large tent. Despite all its openings being sealed. She enjoyed the feeling of the wind against her naked skin. She had worked up a bit of a sweat, which was quite rare. So the breeze felt nice and refreshing.

She took a deep breath when she removed the glass from her lips. She reached down to the bottle on the table but when she did, she immediately noticed that she had blood on the fingers of the hand that didn't hold the glass. Her eyebrows rose slightly. She brought the hand up to her face and studied it. It must be from his back since she hadn't noticed it before.

"Oops." she said silently with a smile.

She kept looking at her hand as she sipped on some more of her wine. Walking back towards the bed. "It seems like I took some blood from you."

"Ohhweelley?" Tatsumi said through that rag that acted as an improvised gag. Well aware of the pain on his back.

Esdese grabbed a chair as she walked through the tent. Dragging it behind her. She then put it down on the side of the bed. Sitting down in it and putting her feets on top of each other on Tatsumi's naked chest.

She turned her hand around. Bringing it up to her face. Until a few moments ago, the red liquid on her fingers had been a part of him. A part of the existence in this world that she regarded as her true partner. Her other half. Now this part of him was trailing down her fingers.

She reached out with her tongue and started to lick it from her hand in long strokes.

"The bed sheets are pretty much ruined." she said as she cleaned her hand with her mouth. "Though I know that the camp has brought many extra sets with them."

"Mhhmmph?" Tatsumi said. This time, she had a harder time discerning what he meant. She looked at his face as she licked the last of his blood from her fingers. Smiling.

He had two pieces of white cloth wrapped around his head. Torn from the bed sheets. One that covered his eyes and one the went across his mouth. Forcing another piece of cloth to stay in his mouth under it. The little that could be seen of his cheeks were burning red. A couple of slaps had seen to that.

"This look suits you, Tatsumi." Esdese said as her eyes traveled down his naked body. His hands tied across each other behind his back. His body lying uncomfortably on top of them. His feet forced together as well. All tied by the same type of white cloth. Torn from the bed clothing itself. Large parts of it missing here and there. Revealing the mattress. "But then again, I think you look charming in almost anything, so I am probably not the best judge." she said and looked up at the ceiling. Drinking some more from her glass.

"Anngghouu"Tatsumi's muffled voice said.

She looked down at him. Moving one of her feet up to his face. Pulling the cloth around his mouth down from his face with it. Then she grabbed the cloth inside his mouth with her toes and slowly pulled it out. The fabric damp with his saliva.

Tatsumi coughed slightly and then cleared his throat. Still unable to see. Esdese waited for him to speak. Looking at the wine in her glass as she moved it a bit back and forth.

"You see, this is why I never trust you with any decisions regarding how I present myself." Tatsumi said in a voice a bit to calm and dignified for his current compromised position. Causing Esdese's smile to widen. "Half of the times you want me to seem cruel and powerful, and the other half, beaten down and submissive. Submissive to you, that is."

"Well." Esdese said and looked down at his appearance again. "You can't really see how you look for yourself in this moment. Can you?"

"I think I can manage a good guess. And by the way, the ruined bed clothes are on you. My participation in this was... well okay, it wasn't passive. But it was you who decided that you wanted to tie me down all of a sudden."

"Do you think some ruined cloth bothers me?" Esdese almost giggled. "I would probably ruin another set if you managed to break free right now."

"I will keep that in mind." Tatsumi said, turning his head around. "Mind giving me my sight back?" he said and turned his face in the direction he thought that she was in.

Esdese was silent for a while before she spoke. "We should probably keep some ropes or something around when we travel. They will work better and then we won't waste any sheets."

"**You** won't ruin any sheets. It was you that suddenly started tearing at them as you were pushing me down." Tatsumi said. "I didn't contribute to their destruction."

"You resisted." Esdese said. Her foot came down over half his face. Pushing his head to the side.

"I usually do. At least a little" Tatsumi defended and pressed back with his head a bit. Only being rewarded with more pressure. "Since I know that you usually enjoy it when I fight back."

"That is true..." Esdese admitted.

"Besides, I don't see why you would need any rope. Usually, you just overpower me or subdue me with some pain or threat thereof. Heck, when you want me to stay in place, you usually just seal parts of me into some kind of ice shackles. Ropes seem redundant."

"Ohh.. but there is some benefits to just tying you up like this." she said. Leaning back into her chair as her foot pushed his head around a bit. "It is true that using my ice would probably be easier. But it is not good in the long run. No matter how strong you are, your resistance to frostbite can't be increased. At least not in conventional ways. So I can't keep your parts sealed in ice for too long. Lest I want to cause you any permanent damage. But I can keep you tied up like this until the sun rises again without having to worry."

"Please don't." Tatsumi said in a plain voice. "We don't know when the fighting comes. I want to at least be somewhat rested then."

Esdese moved her foot away from his face. "Are you not comfortable right now, Tatsumi?" she teased.

"Does this look comfortable to you?"

"I wouldn't know. Never been in that position."

"Yeah yeah. Like you wouldn't understand the finer definitions of pain." he said. Not that the situation was really that uncomfortable for him. He had been lying on his arms for the last forty minutes but that was about it.

"You won't have to participate in the upcoming battle if you don't want to Tatsumi." Esdese said and reached over to the small table by the side of the bed. Putting the now empty glass on it. "It will be over quickly, with or without you. I have a lot of things that I want to test out."

"I can imagine." Tatsumi said. "You have been boiling with underlying maliciousness ever since you heard the news of this invasion. You have been quite... inflamed since then."

"Huh. I thought I was keeping myself pretty composed through all of this." she said. Tatsumi could feel how she lifted her feet from his body.

"I have learned how to read the signs. And besides, it has come out pretty clearly in the bedroom. You have been a bit more intense ever since then. In both good and bad ways."

"I am a bit restless, I will grant you that." she said. Tatsumi could feel how the mattress under him tilted a little bit to his side. Indicating that Esdese had moved up on it in some way. "But what good is a partner if they can't help you relieve some stress from time to time."

"You can spare me that "from time to time" bullshit." Tatsumi said and smiled. "I have barely been able to recover from each session before you come and demand to claim your rights again. And I suspect that these wounds on my back will not have healed fully before you cause me some other damage."

"I am sure that it is nothing that you can't handle, Tatsumi." Esdese's voice said. She was close but he could not tell how close.

"Who do you think I am?" Tatsumi said in a more cocky tone. "I know what real suffering is. This pain is nothing."

"Ohhh! How cool!" Esdese said with intentionally exaggerated girlishness. Her voice a lot more light than it usually was. "So does that mean that I can be a bit rougher with you?" she continued. Her voice growing a lot darker towards the end of her sentence.

Tatsumi nodded with a smile on his face. "That was absolutely **not** what I meant!"

That made Esdese chuckle slightly. She drew a deep breath as she looked at him. She loved him so.

"But seriously, though, I am thankful for the offer, Esdese. But I will join when the fighting begins. Hopefully, I can help you catch Tom-Tom." he said. _And maybe give some mercy to our enemies_, he thought.

Esdese nodded to him. Her gesture instinctual. Since he still had that cloth covering his eyes.

"And I am thankful that you actually take care to not cause any permanent damage to me. Like not using your ice. Most people think that you aren't capable of that kind of consideration."

"I don't show it to many." Esdese's voice said. A certain underlying pride in her tone. "While I am quite generous when it comes to rewarding those who are loyal to me, I do not show mercy to those that want to dance with me. Which is why my own underlings rarely defy me or want to challenge me to a sparring match. No matter how friendly the atmosphere is meant to be."

"I am truly blessed." Tatsumi said in a sarcastic tone. It translated well to Esdese as she looked at his current appearance. Her smile grew slightly harder as she moved closer to him.

"Well, I want your parts to be in a condition where they can keep serving me." Esdese said. Tatsumi's body tensed up as he felt how her hand grabbed hold of his manhood. First moving from his undercarriage, then up over his shaft. Pressing his cock down against his lower stomach with its palm. "Who knows, one day I might want your parts to do what they were built to do. Don't want to damage anything before then."

"How considerate of you." Tatsumi said. Keeping his sarcastic tone.

"Hmm?" Esdese said as she smiled down as he grew under her hand. "Is that some defiance I hear in your tone, Tatsumi?"

"I have no idea of what you are talking about." Tatsumi said. Smiling. "I just stated how benevolent and kind you are, didn't I?"

"It is always nice to find out that you still have the energy to be sassy." she said. Her hand suddenly grabbed a hold of his pole. Squeezing it hard enough to cause Tatsumi to bend forward slightly. Up from the bed. "But I think I will take that energy from you as well."

"I would appreciate it if I actually had some energy in me, come morn-" Tatsumi started but Esdese covered his mouth with her hand as she straddled him.

"That is not up to you, Tatsumi." Esdese said. Grinning down at him with a teethed smile. Her instincts were calling out strongly to her. Her more animalistic and primal side was urging her to do a lot of things right now. And she would answer to most of those inclinations. She was going to indulge in her more primitive side once more. And she knew that it would be exquisite.

Tatsumi was about to says something but then Esdese's hips went down on top of his. Her hand still holding his shaft. Making him move into her as she sat down. For the second time that night.

He halted himself before saying something. Forced to clench his teeth. This was the second round for the night but he still felt very sensitive. The stimulation a bit overpowering at the start.

"There we go." Esdese whispered. Grunting slightly as she began to move on top of him. "Whose is it, Tatsumi?"

"It's yours." he said through gritted teeth. The lack of sight seemed to make all of his other experiences more intense.

"That's right! And who do you belong to?"

"You." Tatsumi said.

"Good boy! That is just as it should be!" she said as her hands came down and grabbed hold of his throat. Not applying any pressure. Just holding it as her movements became rougher and faster. "We will crush these scared little invaders together. We will trample their hopes and lick their blood from our blades."

"We will!" Tatsumi wheezed. Caught up in the moment. The immense immorality of the moment not lost on him.

Even if he was on the receiving end, he was still making love to Esdese while on a temporary stop on their way to destroy a force that probably was following a much nobler set of ideas than them. And now he was not just being dragged along by the ice queen. Now he was working together with her. Trying to make the empire into a genuinely better place. He was here because he wanted to be here. He was what he had once condemned. He was well aware of the grimness that implicated.

Yet he kept moving his hips in rhythm with hers. As well as he could while being tied up. His instincts overruling his thoughts and reason. In that moment, the entire world only existed in her squeezing, warm and wet embrace. He loved how she grinded down at his hips. He loved how her breasts pressed down on his chest and face from time to time.

He loved when she grabbed his jaw and forced his mouth open. Placing her own over it. For while her teeth might bite him, her tongue was always warm and soft.

He loved it when he managed to get one of her breasts in his mouth. For when he sucked on her nipples, her body shuddered slightly.

He loved how her teeth sank into his shoulder. Because when he howled from it, her squeezing and humping became more and more intense.

He immersed himself in this more animalistic part of himself. Following Esdese down that road. Both of them only communicating with single words or moans and grunts. Yet in the back of his head, he knew that there was a very dark side to this moment.

But in the heat of their lust, hunger, and pleasure, nothing outside of this room existed. No empire. No Night raid. No lost friends. No memories of old love. His own moral dilemma was gone in this moment. Which was why he always embraced these chances for a respite from his own conscience. He loved to let all his guilt and sorrow go and just embrace the simpler side of it. Esdese's lips, tongue, hands, breasts, butt, and pussy were all that there was. Along with her will to either hurt him or please him.

He loved to just let everything go away like this.

And her. He loved her.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**I think there will be 2 parts to "The western incursion." but I am not sure. Part 2 will be pretty damn long if that is the case. So maybe 3. We will see.**

**This will probably be the last chapter in this entire story that is mostly focused on build-up for the coming parts. Probably. The arc is about to start in earnest now. Things are about to start going down. Also, put in a small nod towards another one of my favorite literary works. We will see if anyone of you picks up on it. It is kinda subtle.**

**I had to cut out a lot from this chapter in order to manage this deadline(almost). Especially from the last "scene". But most of those ideas will make their way into later chapters. Since this lemon was more focused on it's implication than the act itself.**

**Either way, thanks a lot for reading and thanks a lot for all the comments and feedback. I know that there are still some PMs that I haven't answered. Will get to that in the coming days. **

** We will keep up this heightened tempo. Hopefully until this story's end. Though there is still a long way to go, so I am not entirely sure of that. **

**Until next time, take care of each other.**


	46. The western incursion Pt 2

**And the train of successful deadlines continues!**

**Gonna have to back on the dealine. Sorry people. The chapter will be released in two days. On august 14!**

* * *

**The western incursion. Pt 2**

The attack hit the western incursion in the dark of the night. A couple of hours before sunrise.

The invasion force had set camp in a valley between two steep hills. So large that they could almost be called small mountains. They had set up watchtowers a little bit away from the camp and had scouts covering the area around them. They were not ill-prepared.

But they simply did not have the ability to notice how one of their most dangerous opponents flew above their camp. Towards its other side. Ice attached to her wrists and ankles.

The attack came down a little while after she passed over them unnoticed.

It started as a small whistle of the wind. Silent and only audible for the most perceptive of the watchers. After that, it would turn into a loud chaos. The sound of screams, the breaking of wood and the loud thunder of the impacts filled the air as the bombardment began.

It began by three gargantuan balls of ice. Coming flying out of the darkness of the night. Bigger than a large manor. Only becoming visible in the light of the fires the instant before they struck down. They all fell down at the watchtowers that were stationed at the outskirts of the camp. Crushing them under their immense weight. They all fell down at different spots along the west side of the camp. All of them falling down with a second or two between them.

But the giant spheres had not been falling vertically down. They had been sent flying from the side. So after they had crushed the watchtowers, they kept rolling into the camp at a rather fast speed. Filling the camp with horrifying imagery as they crushed everything in their paths as they rolled towards the center of the camp. Crushing tents, wooden towers, carriages, horses and men. All that came in their path.

However, after a little while, they slowed down and finally stopped. Just before they had reached the middle of the camp. Leaving long trails after them. Filled with flattened wood and mashed flesh.

Only then did the war horns of the camp blow. Signaling that they were under attack. The destruction caused by the attack had happened so quickly that there hadn't been time to signaling the rest of the camp. And now the destruction had been so colossal that the entire camp was already wide awake.

People started to get up in the different parts of the camp. Getting out of their tents. Many of them moving towards the side of the camp that had been hit by the ice. The people that had not been rolled over by the ice started to get out of their own tents. Running towards where the damaged had been done. The few ones that had been damaged but survived the rolling globes were pretty badly off. Having had their limbs squashed thin as paper but them themselves still surviving.

Maybe a minute passed as people were running to that side of the camp before the next bombardment began.

This time, there was no warning from the wind. The camp already filled with too much screaming and commotion for anyone to pick up on such a small sound. But the second wave of the barrage was almost worse than the first one.

Thousands of sharp spears of ice came flying down through the night. All of them a meter or more long. Flying down at the camp without aim or targets. Just raining down in such quantity that such things became unnecessary. Striking down the people and structures on the western side without prejudice. Once again causing the screaming to heighten in volume.

The east side of the camp was so absorbed by the horrors of the west side they almost missed the army that was approaching them at breakneck speed. Only half a minute before they were hit, did the people in the watchtowers start screaming and ringing their bells.

"Incoming cavalry! Incoming cavalry!" they screamed at the top of their lungs. Bringing the attention of the people around them back to their side of the camp.

It was hard to see the enemy for the people in the camp when they turned their eyes to the east. The cavalry had not sounded any horns and had discarded all their lights and torches. Riding towards them in complete darkness. But the thunderous sound of the advance of thousands of horses could not be concealed. And now it was growing loud enough to overpower the noise from the chaos in the camp.

"Damn it!" the warlord known as Belwarck growled as he started to jog out of the camp. Towards the sound. The giant man emerging out of the crowd of people that were staring into the darkness. Running towards the watchtowers. "To mee! To MEEE!" he shouted to the men behind him. His own soldiers and those around them starting to follow him.

"Establish lines!" Belwarck bellowed. Looking at those behind him over his shoulder. "Burrow pikes! Establish lines!"

But when he turned his head back forward, he realized that they would net be able to establish any lines in time. The wave of riders emerging from the darkness in front of him. Riding into the light of watchtowers' fires at their highest speed. Less than twenty meters away.

"Ohh dammit!" he said and gritted his teeth. "SWORDS!"

Despite his command, Belwarck himself didn't manage to draw his weapon in time before the riders reached him. Having to take a step to the side to not be pierced upon one of their lances. But by sheer luck, he managed to survive the horse that came running towards him at full speed.

He reached down towards his sword as quickly as he could and for some reason, his movement scared the battle trained horse. Making it slow down its advance significantly.

"Arrgh!" Belwarck roared as he realized that he wouldn't be able to draw his weapon. He opened his arms and grabbed the big animal as it smashed into him. He grunted as his feet burrowed deep tracks in the ground as both him and the horse moved towards the camp. But after some seconds, their movement started to slow down. The horse's rider trying to slash at Belwarck's arms with his sword. The riders behind them forced to evade to the side in the last minute in order to not collide into them.

When they had come to a total stop, the horse rose on its hind legs in an attempt to get free of Belwarck. Pushing him away as it rose up. The giant man didn't hesitate for a second. He went down slightly and then threw himself against the creatures exposed rib cage. Smashing his shoulder into it as he went under the beast's dangerous front legs.

"NYAAAARRRGH!" he screamed as he put every ounce of his strength into the movement. And to his great surprise, the big animal slowly toppled over. "HAhaaa!" he shouted victoriously as he followed the creature down in its fall. Holding on to its body as the creature crashed down on its back. Its rider damaged under it. Then he immediately leaped away as soon as they had landed. In order to avoid a fatal kick from one of the legs of the horse.

"YEAAAAAAHH!" he screamed in pure disbelief over the fact that he had just body slammed a warhorse. "And there is more where that came from!" he shouted to no one in particular as he drew his sword.

Somehow, the charge of the cavalry seemed to have been stopped. At least to a little degree. He could still see some of his own soldiers around. Here and there. Even if they were greatly outnumbered. The cavalry all around them. Many of them just riding past them. Further into the camp behind them.

Belwarck stayed low as he ran between the fighting riders. Searching for someone whose horse he could easily steal. He needed to meet up with the other warlords and tribe leaders. They needed to make the camp retreat in unison. Otherwise, they would just be run down by the cavalry.

"HOLD THEM!" he shouted out to the few of his soldiers that could hear him. Grabbing an enemy soldier's arm from behind as he did. Pulling down from his saddle in single strong movement. "If we don't hold them here, everyone dies!"

He climbed up on the now empty horse. Immediately forced to deflect a swing from a sword as soon as he was sitting in the saddle. Smashing his mailed fist into the face of his assailant. Causing him to fall down from his own steed.

He looked around, trying to see in which direction the middle of the camp was, having already lost all sense of direction. "Hold them! HOLD THEM!"

* * *

Leone yawned heavily before she sank her teeth into the sandwich in her hands.

She was sitting alone at a table in a small rundown bistro in the slums of the capital. She had been on her way back towards their hideout when she had felt the smell from the bistro and decided that she could use some grub. She had been drinking all night in a bar a couple of streets back and had worked up a hunger.

Despite the very late hour, there were still a lot of people in the small establishment. All seemed to be varying degrees of poor. Some sat huddled together and talked silently and other were speaking loudly in languages she didn't understand. Some were drunkards that had gotten the same idea as her on the way back home.

At least the food was decent, she concluded as she chewed through the bread. These last two weeks had been pretty damn boring for her. When Esdese and Tatsumi left the capital, Night raid had decided to bring down as many higher-ups and leaders from the palace as possible in their absence. They may have abandoned the main part of their information network but they had kept almost all of the spies they had in the capital. They had a pretty good surveillance of the entire city.

Which had made the current situation much more baffling to them.

Since the day Tatsumi and Esdese left, and the procedure that had seemed them off had returned to the palace, not a single person of importance had left it. They were sure of this, since their people had been watching its many gates closely. But no one had left it for two weeks now.

There had been some people of political and military importance arriving to the city since Esdese's party had left but all of them had been immediately escorted to the palace. Not to be seen again after that. And they had heard nothing about what was going on inside the walls of the giant palace.

Something like this was almost unheard of. They didn't know what was going on. Neither did they know if this was something Esdese had planned. Isamu had suggested that they somehow were aware that there were assassins in the capital and therefore were staying locked up as a safety measure. Until the return of the great general. But neither Akame or Leone fully bought into that. The imperial government as a whole couldn't afford to slow down just because they were afraid of some assassins. Esdese wouldn't accept that.

But something was definitely going on in the palace. Something that required most of the imperial leaders stationed in the capital.

All of the Night raid members were well aware that they couldn't risk an assassination attempt within the palace. Not without some great diversion or some degrees of chaos. As it was now, they would just quickly be surrounded and overpowered. There were too many powerful people gathered inside those walls. They had always known this. They had never planned to take on the palace alone. They had always been waiting for opportunities when the different leaders were out in the city.

So since Esdese had left the capital, their days had consisted of waiting and watching. Waiting and watching. And it was starting to grate on Leone. Making her go out for some drinks and beer every now and then. Such as this evening. She knew the capital pretty well. She had spent a lot of time there. So she knew her way around.

Though these days, she had to cover herself up a bit. In order to conceal her appearance. Since wanted posters with different reimaginings of her face were spread out through the city and the nation. She had some robes and scarfs around her to cover up most of her appearance. Everything up to her nose hidden. Her hair forced back into a ponytail.

She had almost eaten half of her sandwich and was starting to get sleepy when she heard the voice of a little child. Walking around between the tables. Begging for change or a bit to eat.

She sighed. There were many of these children out on the streets these days. The numbers seemed to almost have doubled since the last time she was here. Leone was not surprised, though. The stream of refugees into the capital had been unprecedented and it was having consequences. Many of those arriving falling directly into poverty and starvation.

The fact that a child was running around and begging in a bar filled with drunk adults, way past midnight, was a sign of how bad things had gotten.

She tore off a large piece of her sandwich as she heard how the kid approached her from the side.

"Here you go." she said and reached to the child with the bigger part of her sandwich. Not looking down at the child. "I have spent all the money I had with me. But this sandwich was rather nice. It should keep you going through the night."

She felt a very small hand grab a hold of her wrist. Pulling at it as the child walked up very close to her side. "Leone of Night raid." a small voice whispered.

Leone immediately looked down at the child. It was a thin and feeble boy. Wearing a gray robe and a tattered beret that was way too big for his head. Almost falling down past his eyebrows. A few curls of gray hair sticking out from under it. Her gaze was met by large gray eyes. So vacant that it almost scared Leone. It felt like the kid wasn't even awake.

Or that he was looking right through her.

She turned her entire body around in her chair. As quickly as she could without drawing attention to herself. "What did you just say?" she asked in a hushed voice.

"You know what I just said." the boy answered in a monotone voice. "I have come to help you find one of those you seek."

Leone bent down towards the child. Almost whispering. "Who are you?"

"That is irrelevant." the small kid said in the same emotionless voice. "I want you to come with me. I can lead you to general Faye."

Leone's eyes widened further. "Has she left the palace?"

The gray child nodded. "She is just some blocks away from here. On a secret meeting. She left the palace just some hours ago."

"How do you know this?" Leone said. Skepticism setting in now that the initial shock of what the kid was saying had settled.

"That is irrelevant but it is the truth. Come with me. There isn't much time."

Suddenly, Leone wished that she hadn't had that last beer. She wanted to be at the top of her judgment now. If she could activate Lionelle, then the teigu would quickly clean out her blood and head. But she didn't dare to do it in this bar. With so many eyes around her.

"Leo-" the little child said but Leone covered up his mouth with her hand as he did.

"Better to not say that name out loud." she said with a strained smile. "Why should I trust you?" she said as she slowly brought her hand down from his face.

"I was right about who you are, right? So why wouldn't my other claim be correct?"

Leone scratched her chin. "Let's go and talk to my friends about this before we do anything."

The gray eyes widened slightly at that. The first reaction Leone had seen from the boy. "There is no time for that. We have to go now. They are already wrapping up their meeting. It will soon be too late!"

"How do you know all this?" Leone repeated.

But before the boy could answer, a large man walked up to their table. His clothes revealing him as the owner of the place. "Is this kid bothering you, ma'am?" he said in a deep voice.

Leone looked at him. "No, not at all. We are just chatting a little."

The big man grabbed the shoulder of the little boy in front of her. "We really don't want any beggars inside this bistro, either way. So scram, kiddo."

The gray eyes looked up at the man behind him and then back at Leone some seconds. After that, he turned around and started to leave. The bartender nodded and walked away.

Leone looked at the kid with half an open mouth. Unsure of what to do. A part of her wishing to seize this moment, another part of her telling herself to practice caution and ignore this strange encounter.

"Goddamit." she said when the child walked out of the bistro's door. She shoved the last of her sandwich into her mouth and rose up. Quickly walking after the kid. Leaving the bar and the lights behind.

* * *

"Where the fuck is their main force coming from?" the warlord Belwarck shouted as he entered through the opening of the tent. The other chiefs, warlords, and leaders already there. "We need to know which direction to flee in."

Outside of the tent people were running around in chaos. Loud blast and screams filling the air to such a high volume that those inside the tent had to shout to be heard. Now and then they heard the deep booms and rumble as one of the more colossal chunks of ice fell down upon their forces.

"We are being bombarded from all sides! It is almost impossible to tell." Ulrick shouted.

They had gathered here as a last resort. They all knew that they must find a solution quickly. The time they had could probably be counted in seconds.

"The bombarding is the ice queen's doing. It doesn't indicate where they are coming from." Ulrick's brother; Ulvik shouted. Sweat running down his temples. "We have to assume that their force is coming from the east. From the direction of the capital. They couldn't possibly have had time to move around us. We would have noticed that."

Lord Belwarck nodded. "Where is Tom-Tom? Didn't someone send a messenger to him?"

"We did." One of the other warlords said. "But his camp was in the back. They were struck hardest by the bombardment."

"Goddamit!" Lord Belwarck said. "We need to go and look for survivors."

"We don't have time for that!" Ulrick shouted. "We need to retreat to the west! All of us! Now!"

"And go through the bombardment again?!" another one of the warlords shouted.

Their yelling was interrupted by a large boom as one of the bombardments hit closer to their position. Strong winds from the blast causing the tent to sway. When the tent straightened up again, Belwarck dared to speak again.

"Everyone will do what they seem prudent. But I will take some of my men to Tom-Tom's camp and see if any of them have survived." he shouted. The adrenaline of the moment still keeping his voice loud. Even if their surroundings had grown silent. "We will meet up with the rest of you after that. I will-"

The big man stopped himself as he noticed that most eyes had moved to the entryway behind him. He immediately turned around. A hand on his sheathed sword.

But he stopped at the sight that met him. A young woman had entered the tent behind him. She was very tall. Almost reaching him up to his chest. Her eyes were sharp. Only slightly hinting at how exhilarated she was. Her smile both inviting and threatening. Her long blue hair swaying in the wind. It took Belwarck a moment to realize that she was wearing an imperial uniform. Only then did he realize that the blast they had felt had not come from a block of ice. It had been her.

"The ice queen herself, I presume?" he growled as he slowly drew his sword.

"That is what they call me." Esdese said and looked up at him. "I would ask for your name but I don't think it matters. I doubt that you lot will be impressive enough for me to remember you."

"Great general!" one of the men behind Belwarck shouted. "We are the leaders of this incursion. This is all our doing. Spare our men in return for our lives." he continued. Having already given in to despair.

Esdese didn't hesitate for the shadow of a moment. "I think not. They followed you here, didn't they? Your followers walked here with their own feet. It will be up to them to survive this battle best they can."

"Seems like your heart really is made of ice, just as they say." Belwarck said bitterly.

"Ohh I have a lot of passion in me. Though not a lot of mercy." she said and put her hand on her own sword.

"Demon!" Belwarck roared.

After that, everything happened quickly.

She killed Belwarck the warlord with a smile on her face. He was brave and charged her with sword in hand. His entire body was sliced in two before he could swing at her.

She killed Ulrick and his brother. One trying to fight her. Charging at her as Belwarck's remains hit the ground. She laughed as she jumped around him. Making him spin around to try and face her. After he had spun around himself a couple of times, her hand grabbed his neck. Smashing his head down into the ground. Flattening it to half its size with a sickening, crunching sound.

His brother she killed on his knees. Begging her for mercy. She grabbed his hair and brought his face up to hers. Staring him in the eyes as she slowly slid her sword into his stomach. Until it emerged on the other side of his body.

The few that were left after that realized that there would be no mercy. Facing her with weapons drawn. She killed the last one of them ten seconds after that. He was lying on the floor. Crying for his mother as he tried to keep his red intestines from escaping through his now open stomach. Esdese studied his struggle for some moments before she drew her sword through his chest.

After that, she turned around and took a deep breath as she looked out over the room. She had been so into it that she had even gotten blood on her white uniform. Something that was very unusual for her. She looked around the tent that was now filled with blood and gore. Few of the bodies left in one piece.

She sheathed her weapon behind her back. "Damn, I should have saved one to put on my banner when we move back." she said to herself. In her bloodlust, she had forgotten her plan to keep one alive. So that she had someone to make a show out off. And when she scanned the dead with her eyes, she couldn't see a trace of the only one she had actually been looking for.

* * *

Tom-Tom was monitoring the entire battle from a cliff, high up on one of the two hills that overlooked the battle. The forest spreading out behind them. His sad blue eyes following the bloodshed below. Leaning heavily on his staff. He had seen the ice queen head towards the center of the camp just some moments ago. He could guess what was transpiring.

He couldn't really call the fighting in the valley for a battle. It was closer to a slaughter.

The eastern side had now completely caved in to the cavalry. All defensive efforts had been given up. Everyone fleeing towards the middle of the camp. The thousands of riders now moving through the encampment. Destroying all the tents and wagons that were left behind. Mowing down the stragglers that weren't fast enough.

On the other side of the camp, things weren't looking much better. The last of the people of the west side of the camp had started to flee from the bombardment. The ice barrage that was shredding that side of the camp to pieces had not slowed down while Esdese moved towards the leaders of the incursion. It was still raining down with the same intensity.

Either as spear like projectiles. Moving down with the speed of bullets. Or in the form of large ice blocks. Bigger than a normal house. Rolling forward a bit after their initial impact. Crushing everything and everyone in their way.

The people on that side were now fleeing towards the middle of the camp as well. There they would be met by those fleeing from the cavalry from the other side. It was a grim scene and it didn't look like it was going to get better anytime soon.

Tom-Tom sighed. These were his countrymen, his comrades, his friends. And now they were dying in the thousands. He directed his sad and tired eyes towards the tent of the war leaders. He was too far away to make out anything of what was going on. But he was certain that all of his fellow chiefs, warlords and leaders were dead.

"I will be with you soon enough, my friends." he said silently. He sighed and steadied himself internally. He needed to look at the road ahead of him. He needed to keep his eyes on the goals.

He had hoped that they would have been able to buy some more time for Makeias with this incursion. Hoping that they could keep the imperial army chasing them for a little while longer. But now the jig was up. Esdese had encircled them by using the vast power of her teigu. She herself being able to hold up an entire front herself.

He turned around to his men. There were eight of them standing behind him. The other ones had already moved away. Leaving the camp and scattering as soon as they could detect the incoming attacks. Moving to regroup with Makeias again.

"Let's go." Tom-Tom said. "We need to let Makeias know what has happened. He must know that we didn't manage to buy more time than this."

"I'm afraid that you will have to postpone that meeting." Tatsumi said. Deactivating his invisibility as he walked out of the forest behind them. Wearing the evolved form of Incursio. Its large spear in his right hand.

He had been sent into the camp with his invisibility before the battle begun. His job to locate Tom-Tom before the battle started. In case that he and his men would disappear as soon as things started to go south. And so they had. And he had followed them. Even if it hadn't been an easy task. Their speed had been hard to keep up with. Especially since he needed to be as stealthy as possible. He knew that the instincts of his targets bordered on the supernatural. "I need some answers from you, Tom-Tom."

Before he had finished the first sentence, all of Tom-Tom's men had drawn their weapons. Sixteen long and thin swords all aiming at him. But Tatsumi still kept his slow approach. Walking towards them. His eyes glued on Tom-Tom.

"Is that you, Tatsumi the traitor?" Tom-Tom asked slowly. Looking at the armor. He had seen Incursio back in Garu but it had been from far away.

"The pot is still calling the kettle black, I see." Tatsumi said as he got closer. "Sorry, Tom-Tom but you won't be leaving anytime soon."

He was getting really close now. Tom-Tom straightened up a bit. "Go." he said without looking away from Tatsumi. "Get the message to Makeias. I will teach this kid a lesson."

Without a moment of hesitation, his men scattered in all directions. Disappearing into the night in just a couple of seconds. Leaving Tom-Tom and Tatsumi alone.

"Not sure how smart that was, old man." Tatsumi said when they had left.

"We will see." Tom-Tom said and lashed out at Tatsumi at his full speed.

Tatsumi could see the attack coming but was not fast enough to react in time. Tom-Tom superior speed making itself know. But it came at a cost.

Tom-Tom smashed Tatsumi's head with the side of his staff. Taking the few steps that remained between them in an instant. But when he hit Tatsumi, the strike barely made him recoil. Tatsumi's head moved to the side from the impact but that was it.

Not that the hit didn't cause some damage and pain for Tatsumi. His head was ringing slightly from it. But both of them realized something from the attack. Tom-Tom speed was far faster than Tatsumi. But he would have a really hard time dealing any real damage through the armor of Incursio.

They both stood still some moments after the hit. Looking at each other. Then they both darted off. Leaving the small clearing in an eyeblink. Their swift combat immediately taking the both of them out of it. Moving around each other. Trying to get into a better position.

Tom-Tom was moving in laps around Tatsumi. The young man struggling to keep up with his large and slim opponent. Taking hits from almost all the directions. But most of them didn't cause much damage. Tatsumi, on the other hand, didn't even get close to landing an attack. His opponent avoiding his attacks with ease. He knew that this would be over if he just managed to get a single attack to connect. It probably wouldn't matter if it was a punch, kick or his spear. But now he had started to doubt that he could even get a single hit to land on Tom-Tom.

They moved through the forest with enough speed to make the wind sing around them. Bouncing off of trees and stones. Jumping back and forth. After a little while, Tom-Tom managed to get entirely around Tatsumi and rammed the end of his staff into one of his knees from behind. Causing Tatsumi to fall down on one knee. Tatsumi swung around in his crouching position but Tom-tom was already gone. Jumping over him to then land a couple of meters away. Facing him.

"Scurry away now, little child. I think you must have realized that you will never be able to hit me." Tom-Tom said after some moments of silence. Fighting to conceal his own exhaustion.

"And you have realized that you can't hurt me with just your stick." Tatsumi said as he slowly rose up. Panting heavily. "So this seems like a game of endurance to me."

Tom-Tom shook his head. He knew that Tatsumi was right but he couldn't show it. He needed to scare him away. Because he was aware that he didn't have enough stamina to just make a break of it and run away from him. His age was making itself known. He was already exhausted.

"Maybe it would be smarter to fall back, Tatsumi. Remember who gave you your teigu back when Esdese took it from you."

Tatsumi chuckled. "Yeah, do you think I don't realize why Makeias ordered Jack to give it to me. He clearly wanted me to kill the prime minister and then die by Esdese's hand. Or somehow manage to kill her as well."

"I will admit that we didn't expect this outcome. We didn't think you had the heart to actually join the empire. For real this time. We always thought that you had your core values from your days in the rebellion left."

"I still do!" Tatsumi defended. Though even he could feel that the words rang a bit empty in the light of what had happened during the last months.

"Are you sure?"

Tom-Tom let silence follow those words for some seconds. After a little while, they could both hear a boom in the distance. In the direction from where they had come. The sound of it causing Tom-Tom some more stress. Not that he let any of it show through. But he needed to get away soon. Time was not on his side.

"Let's finish this!" Tatsumi said and raised his spear behind him.

"Run home to your master, little child." Tom-Tom said and grabbed both his hands around his staff.

Tatsumi launched himself at the older man, his spear behind him. Tom-Tom immediately moved to counter his movement. Darting off to the side. Tatsumi smashed a foot into the ground. More kicking it than anything else. Altering his flight towards where Tom-Tom was heading.

But to his surprise, Tom-Tom threw his staff at him. The long wooden stick flying at him as if it was a spear. It was heading straight for his face. In the single moment that the staff was flying towards him, Tatsumi debated just letting it hit him. Deflecting it would take some valuable time for him. He could just let it bounce off his head. But there was something inside him that wanted to deflect it. And when the staff was gone, Tom-Tom would have no weapon.

He swung his giant spear around and hit the staff on the side as it reached him. But to his surprise, the spear didn't just split in two as he hit it. Instead, he heard a metallic noise as their weapons collided. Before the staff then flew to the side. Tatsumi realized that he had made the right choice. There had been something hidden inside that wooden stick. His instincts might just have saved him. And now the road was free.

He flew towards Tom-Tom who had started to jump backward through the forest after he had thrown his staff.

"You're not getting away!" Tatsumi shouted. As he quickly came up towards Tom-Tom. When he was within range, he swung his weapon towards Tom-Tom's chest. It wasn't a specifically vicious attack. Tatsumi having no wish to kill the old man. Just to incapacitate him. So that he could be used to bring down the threat of Makeias. Once and for all.

But in the last moment, one of Tom-Tom's hands reached in under his robes at his hips and produced a sword. As black as the night. Blocking Tatsumi's spear with it as he drew it from its scabbard. Being able to stop Tatsumi's attack since he hadn't put his all into it.

They both stopped for a moment, Tatsumi staring down at the blade. It had been a long while since he last saw it but he still recognized it.

"Yatsufusa?" he said slowly. The black blade looked like a small sword in relation to Tom-Tom's giant body. Despite it being a rather large katana. As dark as the eyes of its previous owner.

Tom-Tom took a quick leap backward, leaving Tatsumi standing in place.

"Why do you have that teigu?" he asked in an empty voice. The empire or Tatsumi had never learned that Wave had joined Makeias. They thought that he was far out at sea with most of their fleet. Raiding and pirating.

Tom-Tom's expression was grim and bitter. He had not intended to draw the sword. His body had moved by instinct. The only reason he had it on him was for safekeeping. Keeping it with him between tests. Since Wave could never find out that Night raid hadn't taken it. But now that bridge was crossed. Not that he didn't have a slight idea of how to use it.

"Where is Kurome?" Tatsumi asked loudly.

Pain filled Tom-Tom's face. "Why don't I show you?" he said and activated the teigu. Lifting it up sideways in the air in front of him. The dark force unleashed from the blade. Bouncing back and forth against the ground like lightning as Tom-Tom summoned three of the blades most powerful puppets. Climbing out from the ground in front of him.

"The march of the dead, Yatsufusa." he said bitterly. As the figures stood up in front of him. Natala, the assassin wielding a spear, the lower part of his face covered. Ran from the jaegers, his teigu already activated. Its wings now black. And Kurome, wielding a replica of the sword that had summoned her.

"No." Tatsumi gasped at the sight of Kurome. Images of her smile, her subtle humor, and those few times that she had offered him candy were running through the back of his mind as he stared at her now vacant and empty eyes.

"Kurome." he said slowly. His voice filled with pain. He looked over at Tom-Tom. The older man seemed almost as stricken with sadness as he was over the appearance of the young girl. "Who killed her?"

"No one did."

"Who killed her?!" Tatsumi demanded. His voice growing louder.

"It was an accident." Tom-Tom answered. Raising his voice as well. "We didn't want to see her dead."

"And yet you couldn't even let her die with dignity! Making her into a fucking puppet for your own gain!" Tatsumi said. Almost shouting.

"How much of a kid are you, Tatsumi?" Tom-Tom shouted back in anger. Being swept up in the moment. "Do you not understand what war is? Do you not understand that these are its consequences? Are you so conceited that you will only react to the horrors of it when it affects one of your own? Are you that short sighted?"

Tatsumi pulled his spear down behind him and launched himself against the puppets. All of them moving up to stop him. Following Tom-Tom's will as he himself turned around and darted off into the forest.

In their prime, his three opponents could actually have proved a challenge for Tatsumi. But now they were only shadows of themselves. He made quick work of them. He cut through Natale's spear and body as the puppet tried to block his attack. He cut off one of Ran's arms as he tried to attack him from behind. Then kicking him in the stomach. Sending him flying away through the forest.

And then it was just him and Kurome. Or what had once been Kurome. They had sparred sometimes. As training long ago. Tatsumi quickly realized that this puppet was a shadow of what she once had been. By the fourth attack, he cut off her sword hand and shoved his spear through her chest. Pinning her body down to the ground. His giant blade going through her from navel to just under her throat. He followed her down. Going down on one knee. Looking deeply into her eyes. His teeth clenched so hard that his jaw almost cramped up.

He looked deep into those dead and empty eyes. "I'm sorry, Kurome. I am so sorry." he said. His voice unsteady. Her remaining hand was trying to grab the giant blade that was pinning her to the ground. "I will not let them defile you like this again."

Then he saw it.

Something deep in her eyes. Something that was not still and dead. Something that reacted to him. Something that was looking at him. The remains of what had once been his friend.

Tatsumi took a sharp breath in horror. He quickly spun around as he stood up from his crouching position. Bringing his weapon with him. Circling it around him. It's blade moving through Kurome's body as if it was nothing. Cleaving her entire head in two as it moved up from its original place. The girl's upper body cut in two. From navel to scalp.

Tatsumi ended his motion with his back against her. He couldn't look back at her. He didn't have the strength to look at her gruesome remains. He took some moments to steady himself. Taking control of his emotions. There would be a time for tears later. He still had to catch Tom-Tom.

He turned around and dashed off into the forest. In the direction Tom-Tom had disappeared in. Leaving the gruesome scene behind him without looking back. Leaving the remains of his friend there.

He didn't think that he had the slightest chance to catch Tom-Tom now but he knew that he had to try. And to his surprise, he found Tom-Tom just some moments later.

He hadn't come far. He was sitting on his knee in an opening, not far from where they had fought. Breathing heavily.

He noticed it when Tatsumi landed some meters behind him. He sighed. "I am too old to be playing around with this kind of tools." he said silently. Throwing Yatsufusa to the side. The blade landing softly on the grass.

Using it had damaged him and drained his energy.

Even if he was capable of using it, he did not have a good synchronization with it. It had taken almost all he had to activate it. And that combined with the fact that he had been fighting at full speed against Tatsumi for a long time before that, had left him with little to no energy left. He had collapsed in this clearing just some seconds after he had left the puppets and Tatsumi behind.

Tatsumi looked at the sword as he took some steps towards Tom-Tom's back. It had some ugly scratches on it. Probably caused by some sort of stone. It was clear to Tatsumi that Tom-Tom had tried to destroy it after he had realized that he wasn't getting away. But lacking the strength to do so.

"You are lucky that I am old. If I was young, I would have had the strength to keep going through all the night." Tom-Tom said with a tired and sad chuckle. He looked at Tatsumi over his shoulder. "Kurome?"

Tatsumi had to fight against the horrific image in his head. Forcing it out of his focus. "She will never be summoned again."

Tom-Tom's sad blue eyes looked at him for some moments. His voice raspy as he spoke. "Thank you, little Tatsumi."

Tatsumi walked up to him until he was standing behind the man. Even when Tom-Tom was on his knees, he was a bit taller than him. "Is Wave alive?"

Tom-Tom's head nodded. Not facing him.

"Where is he?"

"Far away from here." Tom-Tom answered silently.

"Does Wave know that you made a puppet out of her?"

Tom-Tom shook his head. "No. My tribe watched over her body after her death. Wave wanted her burned. So when the day came, we gave him another body. Wrapped up in cloth. I placed it upon the pyre myself. Wave thinks that we burned Kurome's remains that night. He must never learn the truth. He deserves better."

"Yet that didn't stop you from defiling her body like this." Tatsumi said bitterly.

"It was an act of panic. She was dying because of other injuries. Makeias tried to wrap her hands around the blade and then stab her with it. Hoping that she would be able to control her own body. But it didn't work. Makeias is unsure if he did something wrong. She was unconscious and he had a spear stuck through his heart as he was doing it. But she did become a puppet. That we know."

"Yeah. Since you didn't let Wave burn the body."

"What would you know of necessity, Tatsumi?!" Tom-Tom flared up. His voice growing a bit louder. "You only seem to go with the wind. To whatever end is easiest for you. We are outmanned and outgunned against an empire that seems to be set on destroying its own people. Your faction, I might add. We need all the tricks we can get! What do you know about sacrifi-" Tom-Tom halted himself in the middle of the sentence. Taking some moments to calm down. Taking some deep breaths. After a little while, he continued.

"Keeping Kurome as a puppet was an evil deed, I agree. All the teigus are evil. And Makeias will destroy them all."

"If he isn't stopped." Tatsumi said.

"Maybe." Tom-Tom said. "Maybe. Now then.." he said and started to turn around to Tatsumi. Still on his knees. Using his long and shaky arms to lift himself around. Stopping when he was facing him. "I am ready."

Tatsumi looked at him. "What do you mean?"

Tom-Tom smiled his usual sad smile. "You know what I mean. I am old and gods knows that I am tired. Let's end this now. Before my strength leaves me entirely."

"I don't want to kill you, old man." Tatsumi stated honestly.

"I know you don't, Tatsumi. I can feel it. But you have to."

"Why?"

"You know why. At least if you have any of those core morals that you spoke of left inside you. We both know what awaits me if I am taken alive by the empire. I have seen the torture the empire practices."

"There are other ways." Tatsumi tried.

"Like what?" Tom-Tom said with the same smile. "I am too tired to flee. And if you hid me away, they would find me. They will be searching extensively. If you try to help me flee, then they will just find us both. You know that this is the only way."

"I..." Tatsumi said. His voice trailing off. Lacking any argument against it.

"Unless you want to give me to Esdese. Then I will die. Long before my body stops working, I will have died. I am sure you have seen it happen to people before. Considering your position."

"I will not allow that." Tatsumi said determinately.

Tom-Tom nodded. "Then you know what to do."

When Tatsumi still didn't move, Tom-Tom spoke again in a much softer voice. "I know this is hard Tatsumi. But gather your courage. I have lived far longer than I should have. I have seen so many things that I love die. I have buried too many of those I have held dear. I have outlived and survived so many people and things that I shouldn't have. Believe me, Tatsumi. I might have a lot of regrets. But now it is my time. At long last."

Tatsumi looked at the old giant for a long time. Then he slowly moved his spear up and placed it against the side of his neck.

Tom-Tom nodded to him. "I hold you no grudge, little Tatsumi. I hope you still hold those old morals that you speak of. And I hope that you will keep acting on them in the future." With those words, Tom-Tom closed his eyes. Peace filling his expression.

Yet Tatsumi remained still. His blade at Tom-Tom's throat. He couldn't do it. There had to be another way. His hand was shaking and his expression pained under the helmet of Incursio. After a while has passed, Tom-Tom opened his eyes again. Looking at Tatsumi. His eyes filled with uncertainty.

"Do it, Tatsumi." he said. "Before my courage leaves me."

In the distance, they could hear a low rumble and some seconds after that they both felt a wave of power wash over them. Both of them understanding what it meant.

She was heading over to them. Searching her way through the forest. Not coming through the same way as they had. Letting her instincts guide her towards the power of Incursio. Able to feel it from so far away. She would soon be there and they could both feel it. Tom-Tom took a deep breath.

"Do it! There isn't much time." he urged and looked up at Tatsumi.

Tatsumi's hand was shaking so much that it was visible but Tom-Tom didn't seem to notice it. To caught up in his own panic. His courage starting to leave at the prospect of what was going to happen.

"Do you honestly want to hear me beg for my own death." he said and looked at Tatsumi. His lower lip trembling. "Do it! End me!"

"I.. I.." Tatsumi said. His mind racing. His insides in conflict. "I.. must.."

He was interrupted by a loud bang behind him. Tom-Tom's eyes shifted to someone behind Tatsumi and he knew that he had run out of time. Less than a second after that, he could feel the force of her presence wash over him. He brought his spear up and swung it down at Tom-Tom's neck with all the might he had.

But as he started to bring his spear down towards Tom-Tom, Esdese's sword intercepted his swing. Smashing his spear to the side with a loud metallic clang. Missing Tom-Tom by a meter. Tatsumi looked up and found her standing beside him. He clenched his teeth harder under the helmet. He had hesitated. And his moment of weakness had probably doomed Tom-Tom to a rather horrible fate.

"Calm down, Tatsumi." Esdese said. Even if her smile seemed to be inviting him to come at her. "He is defeated. There is no need to execute him on the spot. We can get a lot of important information from him."

Tatsumi looked at her and then down at Tom-Tom. The old man was looking at him with tired eyes. Tatsumi wanted to strike at him again. But he knew that Esdese would stop him.

"I defeated him. I should be the one to decide his fate."

"Normally I would have given you that honor. But this is a military operation, not your personal duel scene. Tom-Tom will be questioned properly. And that is an order."

"Listen, Esdese-"

"Are you disobeying a direct order from your superior?" Esdese said. Her smile widening slightly. Tatsumi realized just how on edge she was right now. She gave off that dangerous feeling at the moment. And he had never seen her get blood on her uniform before. Now she had plenty of blood splattered on her. The red clear against her white clothes. Like blood in snow.

He realized that if he said a word of defiance right now, she would hit him. And she would keep hitting him until he surrendered or she deemed the matter done with. Then to probably carry him back to their tent and bed. As soon as Tom-Tom had been taken care of.

This was the first real battle Esdese had been a part of for months. And Tatsumi now understood just how much she had let herself go during it. She had barely calmed down from the kicks, adrenaline, and thrills the battle had given her and her sadistic cravings. She was acting cool but she was a storm beneath. She wanted to fight him.

Yet he had a hard time submitting now. His mind quickly searching for a way to spare Tom-Tom from the suffering but he couldn't think of any. Meeting her gaze as his mind raced.

Esdese kept her smile. She very slowly took a step towards him. Now standing less than a meter away. Forcing Tatsumi to tilt his head upwards to keep eye contact. Raising the tension of the situation. Pressing him to act out. Challenging him by the mere invasion of his personal space.

They looked at each other for what felt like a long time. Then Tatsumi finally turned his head to the side. Looking away from her eyes. He could feel how Esdese intense gaze kept staring at him. So he deactivated Incursio fully. Now only standing in his usual clothes. Incursio now in the form of the sword in his right hand. His face bitter as he sighed. "There."

Yet Esdese still wasn't fully satisfied. Her free hand came up and grabbed his scalp. Running its fingers through his hair as she pushed him around a bit. Forcing his head to move around. When he didn't resist or say anything, she nodded with a victorious "Hmph!"

She turned around to Tom-Tom as she sheathed her own sword. Taking a few steps away from Tatsumi as she walked up to the old man. They were almost of the same height now. Due to the fact that Tom-Tom was on his knees and that his posture was so bent forward. Esdese was even a little bit higher than him.

"I don't think we have ever been introduced to each other Tom-Tom. But your appearance is hard to forget. But the last time we met must have been back in Garu."

"I had hoped that it would be the last time I had to be in your presence." Tom-Tom said. Not hiding his resentment.

"I imagine that you would." she said as she reached him. "If it is any consolation, I have been looking forward to a meeting with one of Makeias' higher aides. For quite some time now. And they tell me that there are none closer to him than you."

"You will be disappointed, ice queen. You will not learn much of Makeias from me." Tom-Tom said matter-of-factly. Meeting her happy gaze.

"Everybody says something like that in the beginning." Esdese said. "And when I was younger and more inexperienced, some of them were right. But it has been years since I was unable to prove one of them wrong."

Tom-Tom looked up at her. The sheer carefree and joyful excitement Esdese emitted scared him. His supreme instincts told him that to her, this entire situation was just fun. She felt nothing towards him. Neither sympathy or resentment. She was just looking forward to slowly destroying him. But he didn't let any of his fear show through. He refused to give her that gratification.

"I will not speak." he said with determination.

Esdese bent forwards slightly. Moving some of her hair away as her other hand came down and gently stroked the side of Tom-Tom's face. Her touch soft and gentle. "Before this is over, I will make you sing for me, old man."

Tatsumi looked at her back with ill-concealed concern. He had delivered Tom-Tom to Esdese. He had enabled his now grim fate. The torture to come was now his doing as well. He felt the despair grow inside of him. He tried to convince himself that he still held his old and good morals true to his heart. But no matter how much he tried, Tom-Tom's voice echoed in the back of his head. "Are you sure?"

* * *

**Author's note:**

**I don't know if it ever translated to you, but to me, Tom-Tom was always the kind giant. The gentle soul forced into a hard situation. So it was actually a bit painful to set him upon this road. But it is all necessary for the sake of the story.**

**There will be another part of the "Western incursion" but that will be the last one. Now things are starting to ramp up for the finale. There will be little rest from here on out. Even if there is still a long way to go before the end. I am losing hope that I will be able to finish this before the manga.**

**A lot of people have written and asked me about my thoughts about the latest chapter of the manga. While I must say that I enjoy it greatly and think that it is artfully done, I still can't help but feel that we are still walking down the same road as the anime. Just a little bit altered. I hope that I am wrong. But I still suspect that we will soon see Tatsumi's death and then a final Akame vs Esdese showdown. Though god I hope that isn't the case.**

**As always, thanks a lot for reading. You are the fuel that puts these words on paper... Or rather, on the screen. Your comments/reviews and PMs is what feeds my enthusiasm. So thanks a lot.**

**Until next time, take care of each other.**


	47. The western incursion Pt 3

**A bit delayed this time. Hopefully, it will be the exception to the rule. **

**This week! Definetly!**

* * *

**The western incursion. Pt 3**

The screams and cries of the wounded and dying could still be heard in the distance from the tent Tatsumi was sitting in. The battle had been declared done half an hour ago by the imperial leadership. Though that did not mean that there weren't still some enemies out there. Just that there was no meaningful resistance left.

He was sitting on his knees on the ground. His hands in his lap. Surrounded by dead bodies. All of them covered up by dark blankets. Only the outlining of the bodies discernable through the cloth. They were all imperial soldiers and warriors. All of the slain that belonged to the western incursion were left for the crows. All except the one in front of him.

He was looking at the corpse he was sitting by. Her features and wounds were mercifully hidden under the blanket. One of the medics that were working in the tent had asked him if he needed any treatment but he had simply waved the woman away with a hand. Since then, nobody had disturbed him. Which was for the better. His mood was rather dark at the moment.

He sighed for the tenth time since he had sat down. He had never expected the reveal of her death to affect him this much. But it had

He had never been that close to her but they had certainly been friends. Only now did he realized that he had actually been hoping for her well being. Only now did he realize that there had been something under her jokingly condescending demeanor towards him and Wave. How she had treated them like idiots. He had always known that that was her way of expressing some kind of friendship and care. And now all those memories of her had joined all the other ones that reminded him of better days. Never to return.

He was unsure about how long he had been sitting there when Esdese entered the tent. He heard how the guards outside it saluted her and noticed how the living in the room tensed up a bit as she entered behind him.

He could feel that she had calmed down a bit as she walked up to him from behind. Her presence didn't feel as threatening as it had back in the forest. But when she crouched down beside him, he could see that there was still blood on her uniform.

She looked at him from the side as he stared down at the body. They were silent for a while before she spoke.

"Were you the one to finish her off?" she asked in a blank voice.

Tatsumi nodded.

"Was it a hard fight?"

He shook his head. "She was just a shadow of what she was in life. It was over quickly."

Esdese was silent for a while. "What a waste." she then sighed. "Well, let's have a look."

She moved her hand down and grabbed the blanket. Tatsumi immediately reached out and took a hold around her wrist. Causing her to stop. "Could you please not? It is a grim sight."

Esdese looked at him for some moments."You are being silly, it's just flesh, blood, and bones, Tatsumi. She is long gone. This is just the remains. It is not the person you held dear."

"All the same." Tatsumi said as he looked at her. "Please. Just leave it like this."

She looked deeply into his eyes as she spoke. "You need to learn how to handle things like this, Tatsumi. I will not tolerate a weakness like this in you. It might become a risk." she said sternly. Then she pulled back the blanket. Revealing Kurome's body.

Tatsumi turned his head to the side. Refusing to look at her.

Esdese studied the body with a calm expression. Her eyes slowly moving across it. "While you behave all meekly and weak now, it sure doesn't seem like you held back when you fought her." she commented. Tatsumi could see that one of her hands reached down to Kurome's body from the corner of his eye. But he couldn't see what she was doing. He would not turn his head enough to see Kurome.

"I guess that you cut off her sword hand before you split her upper body in two." Esdese said as she examined the body. "This must have been a rather vicious swing." she said as her hand opened up half of Kurome's mouth. "Your cut is almost clinical. It veers to the left after it passes her eyebrows but otherwise it is almost completely symmetrical." she said and bent forward slightly to get a closer look.

"You tore two of her teeth from their sockets and you have cut her nasal bone in two. But apart from that, this might as well have been done by a surgeon. I mean, her tongue is perfectly cut in two."

Tatsumi rose up without a word and walked out of the tent. Esdese looking at him over her shoulder as he left. Her expression slightly disapproving but she let him leave. After he had walked out, she turned her head back towards Kurome. She studied what had once been her subordinate for a little while longer.

"You never really felt any resent towards me, did you, Kurome?" she said silently to herself after a while. Grabbing a lock of black hair between her thumb and the side of her index finger. "You fell in love. That was all there was to it."

She sighed silently. Stroking the hair with her thumb. "But in the end, you couldn't keep up with him." she said and let go off Kurome's hair. "In the end, you were too weak to survive your challenges."

Esdese took a last look at the gruesome remains of Kurome and then covered her up with the blanket once more. She stood up from her crouching position. Looking up at nothing. "And now, my other little traitor is all alone out there."

_Survive this, Wave_, she thought. _Come back to me. Grow stronger and then come back to me. So that I can see you one last time before you die._

She turned around and walked out of the tent. Walking away from Kurome for the last time.

Tatsumi was waiting outside of it. His hands in his pockets. Looking down at the ground. He fell in behind her as she started to walk towards the area where the army was setting up camp at the moment.

The field around them was a ghastly scene. The air smelled of smoke and burnt flesh. Fires were burning here and there in the distance. Some were pyres made out of piles of bodies. Collected and thrown together. Burned to clear out the area around them, so that the army could set up a base. Other fires simply remained from the battle. Tents and wagons being set aflame in the chaos of the bloodshed. No one bothering with putting them out now that the fighting was done. Simply letting them burn out on their own.

Now that they were outside of the tent, the screaming was much more audible. Even if it still was in a distance. Most of the dying soldiers from the western incursion were left to their fate. The imperial army occupied with taking care of their own wounded and dying.

"Now that the more urgent business has been dealt with, I need to go and get a new set of clothes. I managed to get my uniform dirty during the battle."

Tatsumi looked at her from behind. The nonchalance of her tone causing him to react. "So now it is just business as usual?"

"Hmm?" Esdese said and looked at him over her shoulder.

Tatsumi stopped. Causing her to do so as well. "Esdese, you just saw the utterly destroyed remains of one of your closest subordinates. Does that not bother you at all?"

"I have been losing subordinates since the day I started to lead, Tatsumi. It is nothing new to me. And besides, Kurome turned against me and the empire."

"Do you truly feel nothing about this? Was she really nothing more than another enemy to you."

Esdese looked at him for a little while. Then she turned around. Her hands on her hip. "What does it matter, Tatsumi? She is gone now. Nothing we do can change that."

"You didn't answer my question." Tatsumi pointed out. He needed an answer. How Esdese always seemed so completely unaffected by the loss of those close to her was one of those cruelties that Tatsumi had a hard time swallowing. Her inhumanity towards her enemies was one thing, this was something completely different.

"I am a warrior and a military leader, Tatsumi. If I let death affect me, I would not be able to fulfill my duties. It will always be a part of my life."

"This was not one out of thousands of foot soldiers. This was not just a number in the statistic. At least it shouldn't be that to you." Tatsumi argued. His voice revealing how upset he was. "This was Kurome. You fought together with her. You drank with her. You laughed with her. Does that mean nothing to you?"

Esdese was silent for a little while. Looking up at the starry sky. "Of course it means something. But you can't let these things control your life, Tatsumi. You have to let it go and move on."

Tatsumi sighed. In the end, she was simply too strong. He already knew this. He knew that she mourned in her own way. She was just way too strong to let that control her. She simply pushed the sorrows away. Having the emotional strength to take it in strides and move on. Even when she lost those dear to her.

"And when I die, you will just move on as well." he said silently.

Esdese studied Tatsumi's expression closely. "We have always said that I probably will be the one who has to live on alone. When that day finally comes."

Tatsumi massaged his eyes with his hand. "I know. It just... it is harder to see how you just walk away from Kurome. Knowing that you one day will do the same to me."

Since he was covering up his eyes, he was a bit surprised when he felt Esdese's arms wrap themselves around him. Pushing him up against her body. "When I finally lose you, it will not be the same, Tatsumi." she said silently into his hair. His head at her chest because of their height difference. "When you die, so will a part of me. I will not be the same person after your death. My heart will die with you. That I am certain of."

Tatsumi's arms slowly moved up around her. Answering to her embrace. "You are way too strong, Esdese." he said silently. Repeating what he had said many times before.

One of her hands came up and started to stroke his head. "That I am." she said.

"Where do you think Wave is?" he asked.

"I don't know." she stated in an empty voice. "But I think he is still alive. Out there somewhere. I think he will return to me."

_And then you will kill him_, Tatsumi thought. The grimness of the situation a bit too palpable for him at the moment. He couldn''t help but think back as he stood there. His thoughts involuntarily traveling to his friends. To Wave and Kurome. To Akame and Leone. To Lubbock and Najenda. To Mine.

"I miss them, Esdese." he said and squeezed her harder against himself.

They both remained silent after that. Hugging for a little while. Esdese's hand stroking the top of his head. Then she finally whispered. "So do I, Tatsumi. So do I."

* * *

Leone could tell that the dawn was getting close. She could feel it in the dampness in the air. Even without the increased perception of Lionelle.

She was unsure if this had been the smartest of decisions on her part. She had decided to follow the little gray haired kid that had promised to lead her to the secret meeting of the imperial general. Running with him through the night. Zig-zagging back and forth between the houses of the slum.

Not that the little child was very quick. He was completely exhausted before long. Breathing quickly and heavily. But soon enough, he stopped. He stumbled the last steps in the alley that they had stopped in. Leaning against one of the walls on one of the houses. He pointed towards the end of the small back street.

"Around that corner." he panted.

Leone looked at him. Not flustered from the small run at all.

She was, however, a bit unsure of this. Mainly because she was unable to fully understand the nature of the child she had been following. He was so blank devoid of emotions. Leone knew how to read people. She knew how to detect the small reactions and movements that gave away people's mood and thoughts but this child was a tough nut to crack. Despite the fact that he barely seemed to be more than ten years old.

But she certainly didn't feel any resentment or threatening signals from the small child. So she had chosen to assume that what the kid said was true. Even if she still didn't know how he knew these things. She still didn't quite trust him.

So she walked past him. Activating Lionelle as she did. Wanting to sharpen her instincts to the max. Just in case he was right.

When her senses were heightened, she noticed that the little kid behind her still felt like an empty slate. She still couldn't read anything from him. She could, however, tell that he remained standing behind her as she moved up to the corner. Still leaning against the wall.

She gazed around the corner. Out into the dark street.

It seemed completely abandoned in both directions. She couldn't detect anyone in the vicinity.

"There is no one here." she said silently.

"No. But there soon will be." the little child behind her said. His breathing finally calming down.

Leone kept looking. And then after a little while, she could detect people in the distance. Walking down the street. Getting closer to them at a steady pace.

Leone lowered herself down slightly. When they got closer she slowly backed into the alleyway again. Moving back towards the small boy with her back first. Crouching down when she was in the shadows again. The small child seemed to recognize what she was doing and backed off further himself. Back towards the alley's other side.

She stayed low and tried to hide her presence to the most of her abilities. Her eyes locked upon the small part of the road that she could see from her position. Listening to how the steps got closer.

And then they walked into view. A small company of people. Not talking. All their gazes directed forward.

There were five of them, Leone quickly counted. She singled out the two people that she thought were her targets. All of the people in the group were wearing clothes that didn't stand out much and they were keeping their heads low. The first one Leone was able to recognize was Faye's second-in-command, Isaak. His stature and form were so muscular that it was easy to guess that it was him.

Faye was a little it harder to discern. She seemed to be walking in the middle of the group. Probably to avoid curious eyes. Since she was the most famous one of them. But Leone saw her brown hair and her instincts told her enough about the other person to make a safe assumption.

She stayed low until they had passed out of her sight around the corner. Then she straightened up slightly.

"Ok, so you might be right about that secret meeting." she whispered. "Otherwise, she would have brought more guards."

She looked over her shoulder, but the little child was gone. She turned slightly and looked around in the alley. Trying to sense where he was. But the kid was gone.

Leone straightened up further after that. Thinking about the situation.

She had the full power of Lionelle at her disposal. She shouldn't even have had to look at the boy to feel that he was leaving. Yet he had. Without her noticing that he did. Had he somehow been able to discern the small moment when she had fully focused herself forward and fled then? But how had he known where she was focusing her attention?

Leone thought about it for a moment but then decided to handle that question later. She had a more pressing matter that she had to deal with. She had to decide if she should pursue the imperial general.

She had no idea of what fighting capabilities general Faye had. She had probably read about it in one of the many reports that Najenda had forced them to read and learn about back in the day. But at the moments she couldn't recall it. But Faye was a general. So that meant that she at least had some sort of capabilities.

On one hand, it was most likely safer to wait and try to quickly fetch Akame. But then she might lose this chance. And they had been waiting for one of the leaders of the empire to leave the palace for almost a month now.

She weighed her options for some moments. Then she finally jumped up on the closest roof. Silently pursuing the general from the rooftops.

* * *

"All in all, it was a rather quick affair." Esdese said as she read through the last report. She and Tatsumi were alone in the tent that had been raised for them in the army's current camp. She was sitting at the tent's only desk. "I can't say that I expected much more but I had still hoped that it wouldn't be over so quickly."

"I know you do. But think more about your soldiers." Tatsumi said. Currently lying in the sofa that was stationed on the opposite side in the tent. Wearing a tank top and cargo pants but nothing else. A glass of whiskey in one of his hands. "The shorter the battle, the less of them die."

Esdese sighed and leaned back in her chair. "I took care of more of this battle than all of them did combined. Do you know how many of our own that my barrage struck down by accident during this battle?"

"Not a single one." Tatsumi answered as he stared up at the roof of the tent.

"Not a single one." Esdese repeated. "They should be grateful that they have me. Nevermind that I wish that the battle had been longer."

"Yeah. Grateful that their own leader didn't kill them." Tatsumi said and took a sip from his glass. "You know that they love you Esdese. Most of them would literally take a bullet for you. You are like a goddess to them."

Esdese stretched her arms over her head. A small smile on her face. "Yeah, they are my men, after all."

"Considering how much some of them worship you, I wouldn't be surprised if they would go out and declare you the new empress. If you just asked it of them."

"Yeah. Probably." Esdese said and rose from her seat. "But I could think of few things that would be more boring. Having to only work with administration and nothing else."

"Ohh you sure about that?" Tatsumi said and raised an eyebrow towards her back. "You would literally be dominating the entire world then. Think of all the commands and laws that you could make into a reality."

"Believe me, Tatsumi. Being the great general during the current martial law has reminded me of just how many administrative duties that comes with ruling."

"You know, I am always telling you that you should delegate some more of your work to those around you. I mean, emperor Makoto sure as hell didn't do much real work for the empire. And he was the emperor."

"Makoto was a child. I am a grown woman. These duties are mine. It is my responsibility to see them done to the best of my abilities."

"Always so serious." Tatsumi mumbled. And drank a little bit more whiskey. Not that he was serious about his subtle suggestion. She was already great general. They stood nothing to gain by overthrowing the royal family. That bloodline had little to do with the problems of the empire at the moment.

"Ohh yeah? Maybe I should join you on that bottle then?" she said and started to saunter over to him. "How is it? It usually tastes better when it is the spoils of war."

Tatsumi looked at his glass. He hadn't known that the bottle Esdese had given him had been taken from the dead. "I don't know. Not really a fan of whiskey usually. Don't like the alcohol burn. But any port in a storm."

Esdese sighed but the sound of it was filled with longing. "You can't even handle strong spirits. You are just so irresistibly cute sometimes, Tatsumi."

"By the way," Tatsumi chimed in quickly. Sensing that she was getting into a more playful mood. Wanting to get one thing done before that. "Have you started to question Tom-Tom yet?"

"Nope." Esdese said and put a hand on her hip as she slowly walked through towards him. "He is the key to crushing Makeias. I will not take any risks. I will wait until we are back in the torture chambers of the palace before I start to work with him. I want to be able to access all my tools and toys when I start talking to him."

"I see." Tatsumi said silently.

"I had thoughts about parading him naked into the city upon our return. Whipping him through the streets of the capital. But he is a little bit too capable for that. He will probably be looking for a chance to take his own life. And god knows that he is quick. I would probably have to wield the whip myself. Otherwise, he would be able to just avoid it. It will be safer to just keep him completely locked up until we are inside the palace."

"A good assessment." Tatsumi said. Hiding how her words stung him. He had a lot of regrets about Tom-Tom's current position. And the worst part of it was that he wasn't sure that he should try to stop it.

Makeias was one of the biggest threats out there at the moment. This could be his downfall. And for each less external threat that he had to deal with, the more time he could spend dealing with Esdese and the other internal problems of the imperial government. He sighed lightly as Esdese approached him.

She was almost standing over him when a young man rushed into their tent. Wearing the uniform of a military courier. Immediately crouching down on one knee as soon as he had entered it.

"Sorry to interrupt, great general!" he shouted with vigor. "I carry a message from general Gallus."

Esdese sighed silently and then turned around and looked at the young man. "Gallus was ordered to send all his messages through the new imperial guard. Why would he send an imperial courier to me?"

"I am sorry to inform you that the new imperial guard doesn't exist anymore, great general." the courier said. Staring down at his knee.

Both Tatsumi and Esdese immediately tensed up at that. Tatsumi straightening up to sitting position and Esdese's eyes widening. "What do you mean, soldier?" Esdese asked as she walked up to him. Her voice cold and authoritative.

"The branch known as the new imperial guard has been purged from the imperial guard. All of its members have been trialed and hanged during the last week." the young man almost shouted. It was easy to see that he was fearing for his life right now. But yet he soldiered on.

Esdese's eyes narrowed once again. Cold anger waking up in her. "By whose authority? Those were my men."

The courier looked up at her and reached inside his coat. He produced a letter from it and gave it to her with a shaking hand. Esdese took the letter and brought it up to her face. Looking at it for a second. Verifying Gallus seal before she broke it and started to read.

The tent was silent as she read through the paper twice. The courier staring down at his knee while Tatsumi studied Esdese for any signs. But he couldn't detect any. Esdese's entire presence had grown mute. She didn't give off any reaction at all. Her usual dominating aura was silent. The following seconds felt so long that Tatsumi was about to open his mouth when Esdese looked up from the letter. Her sharp eyes slowly moving over to him.

"What's up?" he asked as he met her gaze. "What does it say?"

Esdese looked at him for a second and then slowly walked over to him. When she reached him, she handed over the letter to him. "I have been given new orders."

Tatsumi looked at her a little bit before he grabbed it and read through the paper. Its message written out in elegant letters.

_**"To great general Esdese.**_

_**We have just now been informed about your victory in dealing with the western incursion. I must commend you on your ability to always bring quick results. As always, the empire is in your debt.**_

_**A lot of things have been happening during the time you have been away from the capital. I apologize for not writing to you about this sooner but I have literally not had the time to do so. You commanded me to keep order in the capital and that task has proven to be a much bigger undertaking than I first expected.**_

_**Just two days after you left, general Faye brought a huge discovery before the imperial court. She has found a living heir to the throne. It is a young boy named Kotaro. And while he might not be that old, he is still older than the last emperor was when he met his untimely end. God rest his soul.**_

**_By the urging of general Faye, the imperial court, together with all the military leaders present in the capital, have decided to repeal the current martial law and instate Kotaro as the new emperor. Taking effect immediately. We know that you will be glad to hear that you will no longer have to bother with the political scene and can now go back to focusing on being the empire's military leader._**

**_During the few days that emperor Kotaro has been in power, he has already accomplished great things._**

**_Together with general Faye, he provided irrefutable proof that the special force known as the "new imperial guard" has been working to corrupt the imperial government after the death of the prime minister. Proof has been presented that they have assassinated and removed members of the military as well as many powerful politicians. They have also kidnapped family members of those that have been leading oppositions against them._**

**_Most of those that worked as the "new imperial guard" have now been trialed and faced justice for their crimes. _**

**_But the most troubling part is that all the evidence points to a single culprit that has been leading this organization. The head administrator, Tatsumi. We are well aware of your position to the head administrator, great general. Which is why the emperor himself has issued a direct command to you. _**

**_You are to arrest the head administrator and bring him back to the capital. Here he will face a fair trial and will have a chance to defend his innocence._**

**_This is a direct order from the emperor. Delivered to you by my couriers. I know that you will understand the gravity of the situation._**

**_The emperor has also told me to inform you that you will be rewarded greatly for your success against the western incursion when you return to the capital._**

**_Godspeed._**

**_Your servant, general Gallus._**

* * *

The sun was still rising on the horizon when the captain of the gate started his shift. Saluting his guardsmen as he walked to his position. Standing at the side of the huge gate that lead into the capital. Supervising the morning traffic.

Not that there was much supervising to be done. The stream of refugees that were moving into the capital was enormous. There was no line, waiting, or order to those moving in through the gate. People simply moving through the giant doorway in droves. With carts, horses and whatever belongings they could carry. The road was so crowded that people almost walked shoulder to shoulder.

The captain overlooked the crowd. Sighing heavily. They had tried to keep order and regulate the influx of people moving into the capital for quite some time. But then the higher-ups had decided that the city's police force was inadequate to handle this and a new general had been appointed to fix this.

General Faye had returned to the capital on the orders of the great general. And she had leaped into action quickly. New institution had been established within the city. All new arrivals forced to visit these and had to get registered in different forms. Otherwise, they were risking to be thrown out of the city. The military and the police were constantly looking for people that were unregistered in the city. But due to this, the city's gates were now much less regulated. Since other institutions now overlooked the registration the refugees coming into the city.

So the captain of the gate didn't have much to do now. Except just to be there at the ready, in case some trouble came up. And while he didn't mind the large ease of his workload, he felt that he was not really fulfilling his duties to the empire currently.

He sighed again as he watched the crowd. He had a feeling that this day would be just as uneventful as yesterday and the day before that.

However, just a few minutes after that, he noticed something that drew his attention.

In the middle of the large mass of people, a single cart seemed to have broken down. Slightly tipped to the side. The crowd forced to move around the stationary carriage.

The captain looked at it for some moments. When a little bit of time had passed and nothing was changing, he decided to act.

He nodded to one of his guards and then walked into the crowd. Towards the carriage. Scuffling through the stream of people. Apologizing to the few that he had to push to get past. When he reached it, he saw a couple of old people standing around it. Discussing vehemently with each other. Apparently at a loss of what to do.

"Citizens, you are slowing down the traffic and making the throng worse. I must insist that you move your cart away from the road until you can fix it!" he exclaimed in a loud voice in orde to be heard over the buzz of the crowd.

The old people standing in front of him looked kind of scared as their eyes all moved to him. None of them said anything as the crowd kept moving and buzzing around them.

"Do you need help to move the cart? I might be able to get my men to help you."

The old man closest to the captain spoke up but when he did, the captain couldn't understand a word of what the other man was saying. The people that were standing around the cart seemed to speak another language entirely.

After trying the communicate with them for a little while, the captain had only learned that they didn't understand anything of what he was saying and he couldn't even determine which language they were speaking.

After a while, he turned around in irritation and walked back. Intending to send some of his men to move the obstructing cart out of the way. With or without the consent of its owners. But he never managed to get that far.

It was by mere chance that he didn't. It was by mere chance that one of the stones in the road had been overturned by the one that previously walked on it. It was mere chance that one of the refugees would trip on it. It was by mere chance that he would tumble into the side of the captain. Making him fall into one of the persons he was passing.

Both the captain and the man he had been pushed into staggered a couple of steps. Almost falling over before they regained their balance. The captain moving a step away from the man he had fallen into. Still holding a hand on his shoulder.

"My apologies, young man." he said as he straightened up. Looking at the other man. He was wearing brown and dusty robes. A hood covering up most of his face. The only thing that made the captain identify him as a man was his stature. "I hope you didn't hurt yourself."

"No. Don't worry about it." the man mumbled and tried to turn away. But the captain kept his grip on his shoulder. Not allowing him to do so. There was something about the voice of the man that the captain recognized. Though he couldn't quite place it.

"Are you sure?" he said. "No need to force yourself."

"Absolutely sure." the other man said and pulled away. That was enough the convince the captain that something fishy was going on. When the young man tried to pull away, he loosened his grip a little. So that he was grabbing cloth instead of the shoulder underneath it. Causing the attire of the other man to be torn a bit to the side when he tried to take a step away. Making the hood move up a bit over his head. Revealing his face.

The captain immediately took a step backward. Letting go of the young man. His voice shaky when he spoke. "Admiral..." he gasped.

Even with Wave's slightly longer hair and his improvised eyepatch covering a big part of his face, the captain still immediately recognized his old superior. "Why..." he began but then immediately turned. He was about to start running when Wave grabbed him from behind. A hand over his mouth.

"Please stay quiet." Wave hissed as he held the man back. But since he was covering the man's mouth with one of his hands, it left one of the captain's free. He immediately reached towards his sword.

But when he did, another person stepped forth from the crowd around them and grabbed his wrist. This man considerably taller than both of them and wearing the same type of brown rags that Wave did. A hood over his head.

The captain looked at his assailant as he struggled to get free. But Wave was holding him back and the stranger's grip on his wrist was too strong for him. His panicked eyes moved to those around them. Trying to scream through Wave's hand in order to draw some attention to them.

But to his fright, the entire crowd around them had stopped. All looking at him. No one moving to aid him. A closed circle formed around them. Concealing what was happening from those further away. The captain looked to the side of the gate. Where his own men should be stationed. But when he looked, no one was there. His men were gone.

He tried to struggle some more, but his energy was leaving him quickly. He didn't know why but his entire body felt heavier and heavier by the second. When Wave felt that the man had little fight left in him, he lightened his grip slightly. Moving his hand away from the man's mouth. Able to tell that the man did not have the energy to scream out.

"Where is the..." the captain said. Not able to even raise his voice anymore. Struggling to keep his thoughts consistent. He didn't understand why he felt so horribly weak all of a sudden. "My men..."

He looked down at his arm. The other man still holding his wrist.

His eyes widened in horror as he saw how the skin around the hand that was grabbing his wrist was turning into a darker shade of gray. The change happening so fast that it was visible to the naked eye. His own flesh growing darker. He looked up at the one who was holding his arm. His gaze met by jet black eyes. Without whites or pupils.

"What are you?" he said in a silent a shaky voice. All his energy leaving him.

"The end of the road." Makeias answered. As the man collapsed back into Wave's arms. His conscious already taken away by Morbus.

The moment his body became limp, a couple of people behind Wave walked forward and grabbed each of his arms. Lifting him away. His feet dragging on the ground behind him. The ring of people around them started moving again. Slowly walking into the city.

The men dragged the captain of the gate over to one of the many carts and threw him into it.

Wave gave Makeias a quick look and then pulled up his own cowl and started to walk into the city. Indiscernible from the rest of the crowd after some moments.

The only one who remained in place was Makeias. He just stood there for some moments. Looking up on the horizon. The palace visible far in the distance.

"Home, sweet home." he said and pulled down the hood over his face as he started to walk again. Disappearing into the crowd.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**Wow... that took some time. Considering that this was a rather small chapter. But now the part about the western incursion is done.**

**Job and studies have begun and that has taken its toll on my schedule. Not giving me much time to work on this. But I am determined to keep up my increased pace. Hopefully, I will be able to keep my next deadline.**

**Job and studies have begun and that has taken its toll on my schedule. Not giving me much time to work on this. But I am determined to keep up my increased pace. Hopefully, I will be able to keep my next deadline.**

**One of the things that I always thought was one of the cruelest sides of Esdese was how she so easily survived the death of her friends. But now that we get closer to the end of the manga, it becomes more and more apparent that she actually mourns those that she has lost. She just doesn't let it affect her. **

**Now Bent but not Broken is moving into its final phase. Not that we are anywhere near the finale. There is still A LOT more to come. While I am still trying to beat the manga to the finish line, I am not too confident that I will succeed. Bent but not broken isn't even close to its finale and the manga is already at it.**

**As always, thanks a lot for reading and thanks for all the feedback! I have some private messages that I have to get through now. Sorry that I haven't been quick with my responses. Last week was very busy for me but I will try to respond to all of them during the coming days. Even if I don't respond that quickly, I still really appreciate them.**

**Take care of each other.**


	48. Those who play with fire

**Well... This turned into a rather long wait. **

**The reason for it can't really be blamed on a single factor in my life. My job just took a lot more time after the summer break and then my studies were being left behind so I had to focus a lot of my free time on that. And then I had to travel abroad for two weeks. The fact that this grew into the longest chapter I have ever written didn't help. **

**Every time I have a longer break such as this, I am worried over all the readers that I might lose with every passing day. It stresses me out. I want to keep you all here with me, since I still intend to finish this story. **

**It is also a problem in regards to all the characters and plot threads that this story has. It might be a bit much to force every reader to remember them all after a two-month absence from the story. The longer I wait, it might become more and more confusing for the reader.**

**But man, a lot of things have happened during this small, unplanned and involuntary hiatus. Since the last chapter, the story has gotten more than a hundred reviews. Passing both the 1000 mark and the 1100 mark. That's amazing! Some of my favorites are "Crippling depression." and being likened to Hillary Clinton. Made me laugh.**

**Though, I will say that it made me really happy to have people writing and wondering when the next chapter is coming. Even when it has been two months since the last release. I would have thought that you would have forgotten about little me and my not so little story. Thanks for your interest.**

**So here is, what will probably be, the largest chapter of this entire story.**

* * *

**Those who play with fire.**

The sky was clouded but it didn't seem like it would rain anytime soon. The day that Esdese's forces began their march back towards the capital seemed gray in itself, even if the fields around them were lush and green. Ever since they had left the battlefield behind them, the environment they had marched past had been peaceful and beautiful.

The entire army seemed more silent than usual. Even the war drums seemed like they were trying to be quiet. As if everyone was afraid of drawing their leader's attention to them. Almost all of them could feel her anger in some way. Making them uneasy and nervous. Even if most of them couldn't tell why. Most of them trusted their beloved general but nonetheless, they couldn't help but feel pressured.

Even Tatsumi felt a little bit intimidated. Even if he wasn't nearly as bothered by it as everybody else.

He was riding in his usual position in the front cavalry of the long military column. A couple of ranks behind the military leadership. Looking up towards the front of the military procession.

Esdese was riding in her usual position. In front of everyone. But unlike usual, she had no one near her. The small crowd that usually flocked around her was absent. The military leaders, advisors, and elite warriors that were usually vying for her attention didn't dare to approach her at the moment. All of them feeling the danger emanating from her. And since Esdese didn't bother with suppressing her intimidating aura, Tatsumi assumed that she didn't want to be bothered by them. So she rode alone. Ten meters in front of the other leaders. Her head turned forward.

Tatsumi hadn't been able to talk to her during the entire morning. After he had read the letter from Gallus the night prior, Esdese had stormed out of the tent. Grabbing the courier around the neck in the passing. Dragging him after her out of the tent. He had thought about going after her but in the end, he hadn't. He had already been tired from the battle and he had needed time to process the new situation he found himself in.

He didn't know if she had returned during the night. He thought she had. He had fallen asleep on the sofa. Exhaustion finally claiming its right when he had been thinking in silence about this new situation for more than an hour. But when he woke up, he was lying in the bed. But he had not seen her anywhere around when he woke. Even though he assumed that no one else would have dared to carry him to bed. Yet she was nowhere to be seen when he woke up in their large tent. His guess was that she had returned to the tent for some other reason and had found him on the couch. Carrying him to the bed before leaving again.

He could tell that things had been hectic during the night. Outside of the tent. He had barely finished dressing and eating when the marching horns started to blow in the distance. Signaling that they army was moving out. Less than a day after the battle was finished. And that was where they were now.

Though when they had started to move out, Tatsumi couldn't help but notice that there was a group of riders that seemed to follow him wherever he went. Always staying a good distance away but still making no attempts to conceal the fact that they were following him. Tatsumi didn't recognize a single one of them. He had stopped a couple of times to stare at them. They could be some of Esdese's men that he just didn't recognize or they might have arrived in the night. Together with the military courier. It stood to reason that a messenger that carried the emperor's words would have an escort. And Tatsumi wouldn't be surprised if said escort had been given an ulterior motive.

Not that he cared. He doubted that they posed any real threat. He couldn't even gather enough energy about it to feel bothered by the group of warriors that were stalking him. His mind was occupied by a far more pressing issue.

He felt like he was standing at the edge of a cliff. Like a step in one direction could lead to safety. Another step could lead to total calamity. And he was not sure which direction was which.

Because Tatsumi fully understood the extent of what Esdese anger meant.

Because he knew Esdese was not a hateful creature. She had never been that. It wasn't anger or hate that drove her to do the horrible things that she did. She just did what she thought was fun. Her cruelty did not stem from rage. It was simply a byproduct of her complete lack of compassion for almost everyone in the world. She didn't hurt her fellow humans out of spite. She did for the kicks it gave her. For the enjoyment she drew from it. She usually didn't care about her opponents enough to even be angry at them. At most, she could at times grow irritated at her enemies. But even that was somewhat rare.

But this was different. This was anger. Pure and threatening. Even if she was keeping her composure. Though Tatsumi was not certain of how close the pot was to boiling over. He had only seen her lose her cool composure twice. And once had been when she had learned of his betrayal. Now he was scared of what she would do when they reached the capital.

Tatsumi had done his best to create some sort of stability for the nation after the prime minister's death. Using his very unique position as well as he could. And he liked to imagine that he was moving the government in the right direction. But if Esdese would choose to oppose the new emperor that had been appointed by the political cabinet and military leaders, then Tatsumi had now idea how things were going to turn out.

He even feared that Esdese would order her own forces to burn the palace and destroy the capital the moment they had all marched in through its gates.

He wouldn't put it past her. It would all come down to how she reacted to this new leadership of the empire. If she would acknowledge it as her own leadership. Tatsumi was unsure about it. She had allied with the prime minister when she was still new to the imperial military. She had held a degree of loyalty to him and to the imperial military. But now she was the leader of the military. Tatsumi wasn't sure that she would accept someone that just waltzed up to her and told her that she now had to obey their command. And he didn't think that it helped if that person's very next sentence was that they might execute her mate for treason.

He knew that she held some loyalty to the government as a whole. He just didn't know if it extended that far. If it didn't, the nation might be heading towards an even more turbulent time than before.

And he could only imagine how Makeias would capitalize on such a huge conflict erupting in the center of the empire.

Tatsumi's thoughts stopped at the renegade general and stayed there for a little while. Was the pillager behind any of this? And if he was, would that change anything? Should he try and urge Esdese to start questioning Tom-Tom sooner?

The thought gave him no comfort since he was still struggling with the idea that the only way to bring on Makeias' demise might be to bring a rather horrible fate to Tom-Tom first. Tatsumi considered the gain of stopping Makeias for some moments. The teigu known as Spectator could sway a lot of things in this situation. Especially in the right hands.

But in the end, Tatsumi dismissed that problem for later. They might be in this situation because the boy that had Spectator, Jack, had whispered something in the ear of Faye or Kotaro. But while Makeias very well might have created this situation, he would have no way to control it at this point. Just giving them clues and hints about what he and Esdese had been doing behind the scenes would not be enough to buy their loyalty. Of this he was certain. And if he was wrong, and Makeias actually somehow controlled the emperor, then this current turn of events made no sense. Makeias would not just have decided to arrest him and trust Esdese to follow the command.

No, this was something else, Tatsumi decided. This was a new faction with its own agenda. Or it might be a very old faction that only now had come out into the light. Feeling that the time was right. Though he could of course not rule out the possibility that Makeias had been the one that had given this new faction all the information and dirt they seemed to have on him and what he had done.

He let out a silent and troubled sigh as he looked at Esdese's back. Her hair and cape blowing in the wind. No matter how he looked at it, she was the biggest problem right now.

Because he wanted to believe that Kotaro was still a good person at heart. He had spent a lot of time with the kid. He had tried to teach him, just like his old friends once had taught him. About what was right and what was wrong. About the world. Though Tatsumi realized that just the fact that Esdese was theoretically standing beside him probably made all the lessons and morals he had tried to teach the boy ring rather hollow. No one could say that he was living what he preached.

But at least he was still certain that the boy was a more competent ruler than the last emperor. Even if he might lack the tactical prowess of the late prime minister. But he was certainly less greedy and power-hungry than the prime minister had been. And way more compassionate than Esdese ever had been.

So Tatsumi wasn't sure that the idea of Kotaro becoming the emperor right now was such a bad idea. That was what he had intended for originally. Even if he had planned to wait until Kotaro had some more years and a lot more experience on his back. Either way, Tatsumi was convinced that he couldn't be a worse ruler than Esdese. He might lack her commanding presence, fear, and respect. Heck, it would probably take a decade for him to become as effective as Esdese was when it came to leading and ruling. But he knew that the boy's heart would always be brighter and greater than Esdese's. He had no doubt about that.

So just the idea of Kotaro being the emperor was not bothering Tatsumi.

The problem was that there was something else going on here. If Tatsumi was certain of anything, it was that Kotaro would not have rebelled like this without someone goading him on. Someone was guiding him. Like the prime minister had pretended to do for the old emperor. Though in this case, it might not be in the same deceiving way.

And he was not sure of who it was. His guess was that it was one of the two generals stationed in the capital. Gallus or Faye. Probably the latter, Tatsumi concluded. Gallus was a survivor, first and foremost. He would do his best to not make anyone too powerful into his enemy. So if things went south and worst came to worst, he would probably always side with Esdese. He was just too careful to not make any unnecessary moves that could give him too mighty enemies. He probably wasn't the one behind what was happening in the capital. He probably thought that he was acting as a mediator between Esdese and the capital right now.

No, this was most likely the work of the other general exclusively, Tatsumi reasoned. Gallus had probably just gone along with things and pretended ignorance in order to not make any enemies. Hopeful that Esdese would ignore his passiveness.

And that was the sole reason as to why he had not tried to stop Esdese from returning to the capital yet.

He had no idea of what agenda general Faye had. He had heard Esdese say that she was "one of those for-the-people types" but he knew little beyond that. He knew that she apparently was a rather competent warrior. And he knew that there was no love lost between her and Esdese. He also seemed to recall something about Faye being rather conniving.

So he felt that he needed to return to the capital and find out what was actually happening. Behind the scenes. Who was making this happen and what was their true agenda. He wanted to meet Kotaro and see if the boy had changed.

But first, he needed to make sure that things didn't turn to hell the moment Esdese set foot in the capital once more. He needed to talk to her.

He straightened up slightly. Took a deep breath and then spurred his horse on. Riding out from the ranks. Leaving his position in the procedure behind as he slowly rode past those ni front of him and then the military leadership that occupied the front of the caravan of cavalry.

He cast a glance over his shoulder as he did. Looking for the group of riders that had been following him all day. But it seemed like they didn't dare to move closer to Esdese either. He couldn't see them leaving the military procedure to follow him. As he turned his head forward again, he could sense the glares of the military leadership. Staring at him as he passed them. He couldn't tell if they were annoyed at him because he was breaching military protocol and ignoring the hierarchy or simply because he was who he was. It had been years since he cared about such things.

He rode up to Esdese. Not paying those behind him any more mind.

As he approached her side, he could feel how his horse tensed up. It was a steady and strong creature. But its instincts was clearly at odds with Tatsumi's intentions. Yet the beast stayed calm and went where he directed it to go. Even if Tatsumi could tell how nervous it was. He gently patted the side of its neck. Then straightening up as he finally came up at Esdese's side. His own horse falling in beside her large white stallion.

"Good morning, beautiful!" he said with slightly exaggerated enthusiasm.

Esdese's face wasn't contorted but the anger was plain on it. Her sharp eyes filled with threat. She didn't move her gaze away from the road ahead of them as Tatsumi continued.

"I assume that it was you that carried me to bed last night." he continued in a bit lower voice. "Thanks for that."

Esdese still didn't look at him. Not giving any indication that she knew that he was there. Even if he knew that she was listening.

He leaned in a bit closer to her. "Did you get any rest at all? Have you even slept since the battle?"

"I slept beside you for an hour and a half during the night. Then I had to get the army ready." Esdese answered in a hard but not unfriendly voice. Just the fact that he got a response brought a relieved smile to Tatsumi's face.

"Sooo.. I guess that we are riding to my trial?" he said in a joking tone. Trying to get a feel for the situation. A serious question hidden under his relaxed manner. Though he immediately realized that he might have poked at a sleeping bear.

Esdese's eyes turned to his immediately. Anger flaring up in her expression. The power of her gaze piercing him. Even if Tatsumi felt confident that the maliciousness of it wasn't meant for him. However, his steed felt no such confidence. Neighing loudly and tearing at the reins as it wanted to move away from the threatening attention. Forcing Tatsumi to take a moment to calm the beast down. And when he had, Esdese eyes had returned to the road. Her expression calm once again.

"We are riding towards a lot of things, Tatsumi. But a trial is not one of them."

Tatsumi swallowed lightly. Fearing that the situation might be worse than he thought. "So what then? I hope we aren't heading for just another battle?" he said. A bit of the joking tone drained from his voice when he spoke.

Yet Esdese just kept quiet. Keeping her eyes on the horizon. Causing Tatsumi's worry to grow. "Are we?"

"Sometimes I wonder if you have made me softer than I used to be, Tatsumi." Esdese said without looking at him. Her tone just as hard as before.

"Well, I would like to say that I have been a positive influence in your life. But I have to admit that it lies in the eye of the beholder." Tatsumi said.

"Sometimes it feels like you are my poison. Like you are running through my veins. Affecting me in ways that I can't control. Like a drug that I am addicted to. A drug that is slowly weakening me."

That made Tatsumi halt his joking manner. Her words stinging him in ways he had not foreseen.

"Hej." he said silently and steered himself a bit closer to her. "Are you angry at me?"

Esdese didn't answer. She just kept staring at the road ahead of them. Causing Tatsumi a slightly pained expression. He bent close to her.

"Hej." he repeated. "Listen, I know that I was the one that put Kotaro in this position. I know that I was the one that convinced you that he could be the next emperor. I know that I said that I could control him. I know that it was I that made you promote Faye to general status again. I know that this is my fault, Esdese." he said in an even lower voice. When she didn't answer, he reached over and put a hand on her thigh. On the part that wasn't covered by her skirt or boots. Slowly stroking her white skin. "I am sorry, okej? Please don't resent me, Esdese."

Her hard eyes slowly moved to his. She held his gaze for some moments. Then her hand reached up and grabbed the back of his coat in a hard grip. In a single fluid motion, she lifted him off his horse. As if he was as light as a pillow. Then she moved him into her lap. His legs hanging down on one side of her horse as he sat down in front of her. Almost sitting on the large stallions neck. Tatsumi's own horse immediately started to move away from them. Happy to get away from Esdese. Even if it kept following them from a distance. Still loyal to its master.

Esdese's hand left his back and moved up to his head. Pushing it into her shoulder as she spoke. "I have never resented you. Not even when I was about to kill you in the higher levels of the palace. Even then, I still loved you. And I always will, Tatsumi."

Tatsumi moved an arm up around her lower back. Just around her waist. "We are the same, Esdese. At least in this regard. You say that you sometimes feel that I am your poison. That I am weakening you. And I feel that you are making me into a crueler creature with every passing day. But I love you. I gave up on trying to suppress that a long time ago. That is simply a part of me now. It's not something that I can affect anymore."'

Esdese nodded. Her stern expression still staying. "We are what we are, Tatsumi. Both of us are too strong to change so fundamentally. So we have to find our own solutions to the cards we have been dealt."

Tatsumi turned his eyes to the road ahead of them. "And what will your solution to all of this be? Will you set fire to the capital when we return to it?" he asked. Fearing the answer.

Esdese was silent for a moment before she spoke. "I won't say that the thought hasn't crossed my mind."

Tatsumi looked up at her but found that her eyes were also directed at the road ahead of them. "Are you going to?"

"No." Esdese said and closed her eyes. "That is my city. And it is my duty to protect it. That has been my duty for a long time. However, I must admit that I find it harder to motivate this loyalty. Almost all the parts of the empire that I swore my loyalty to are gone. And I am not sure if I am too fond of what it has become."

Tatsumi swallowed again. He himself felt conflicted about that issue. In a way, he had used Esdese's loyalty to force her to go against her own will. Such as promoting Faye or abandoning her military activities in favor of spending her time on ruling in the absence of an emperor. But in a sense, it was also her loyalty to the nation that was the reason as to why she was such a hard problem to deal with. Many times had he argued with her that she should just leave the empire behind. That the two of them should just leave the nation and never return to it. To just leave and hunt for dangerous beasts and monsters as they traveled through the world.

Esdese had always dismissed the idea, even if it sounded like fun to her. Since she had a duty to fulfill. But if she felt her loyalty lessen then maybe someday that would change. Though Tatsumi had a bad suspicion that she might not leave the empire before burning a large part of it down.

"The prime minister is dead. My emperor is dead. All of my jaegers are gone. I have killed the former ruler of the military that I swore myself to. The imperial court that I swore to defend was destroyed by Makeias. What is left of the empire that I swore myself to?"

"Your men. If you haven't noticed it, you have a lot of people behind you right now."

Esdese looked over her shoulder. A slightly disinterested look on her face. "Yeah.. my men. Do they follow me or the empire? Is there even a distinction between the two to them. For many of them, I am the empire."

"Esdese." Tatsumi said. Causing her eyes to return to him. "You are much more than just your role in this empire."

"Maybe." Esdese said and raised her eyes again. "Maybe."

"But you won't burn the capital upon arrival, at least?"

"No. But I am not sure that some heads won't roll upon my arrival. I will see what happens once we return. But I have no intention of destroying the city right now."

"That is encouraging to hear. But I take it that you won't tolerate a trial."

Esdese once again remained silent for a little while before she answered. "You have been open to me about all that you have been doing since the death of the prime minister, right, Tatsumi?"

"Yeah." Tatsumi answered without a moment of hesitation. "I mean, I have been doing a lot of things together with the new imperial guard that we have kept secret from the rest of the world. We have done a lot of shady things in order to stay in complete control. But I haven't kept anything from you. Not since I killed the prime minister."

Esdese nodded. "As long as you do as I tell you, I will never let anyone else lay hands upon you. That has always been my promise. This is no different. It is a political move. Those behind this aren't trying to uphold the law. Most of the government would be facing the hangman if that was the case. This is about removing you, Tatsumi. This is not about some childish sense of justice. It is an attempt to kill you."

"Yeah. That is my take on it as well." Tatsumi said.

"I don't know who it is that is behind this but it doesn't matter. This is a clear attack on you. And I can't help but wonder if whoever is behind it even realized that an attack on you is an attack on me."

"They probably didn't realize that they were challenging the most powerful person in the empire." Tatsumi said.

Esdese shrugged. "We will find who is behind all of this. And then I will spend some good hours with whoever it is. Down in the torture chambers."

"So we will take things as they come for now?" Tatsumi asked and leaned back into her shoulder.

"For now." Esdese confirmed as Tatsumi got a bit more comfortable in her embrace. He could feel how she welcomed his intimacy. Tilting her body a little so that he could lean against her. He felt like her presence had become a little less threatening. But that might just be because he was inside the bubble now. So close to her that he didn't perceive the force she was emanating outwards. But he could still feel the anger inside of her. And it was just as strong as before.

* * *

"Where the hell are you, Leone?" Akame said silently to herself.

She was sitting alone in the small room that acted as her office in their hideout in the capital. The room was not much more than an office chair and a desk but it served its purpose. Akame has a couple of papers strewn out in front of her but she wasn't looking at any of them. She was listening to the steps that were closing in. She had hoped that it would be Leone but she could already tell that it wasn't. Just from the rhythm and weight of them.

Isamu opened the door without knocking. Entering with haste.

The young man had been forced to limit his training since they had entered the capital. Their hideout not offering much in the terms of training rooms or workout spaces. Yet he hadn't lost his muscular form. He seemed to have recovered fully from the wounds he got from fighting Kurome. During the meeting were the Path of Peace had betrayed them. These days he carried his long blonde hair in a bun at the back of his head.

"Nope. She wasn't at her usual bar. Though the owner said that he saw her there last night." he said as he walked up to the desk.

Akame leaned back slightly. "Then that makes it the last sighting of her that we have right now."

Isamu nodded. The room behind him was filled with light chatter. The last remnants of the revolutionary army's information network was working with their everyday tasks in it. A group of twenty people. Following leads and contacts. Constantly summarizing what they knew.

"What should we do next?" Isamu asked and looked at her. His blue eyes filled with uncertainty.

Akame thought for a second before she spoke. "If this was a normal situation, Leone would be presumed dead by now."

Isamu seemed a little bit surprised by that. "She has only been gone for about ten hours. She could still come walking in here any minute now."

"Leone knows what it means that she misses an appointed time in our current situation." Akame said. "If she didn't turn up to our meeting this morning, it was because she was unable to do so."

"She might just have drunk too much last night. She might be passed out somewhere." Isamu tried.

Akame shook her head. "Leone likes to drink but that has never stopped her from doing her part in our organization. She has never missed a meeting because of such a silly reason."

"Okej, so say that we presume the worst. Then what now? How do we move forward?"

"We wait." Akame said slowly. "Esdese is apparently moving back towards the capital and the palace is still keeping its gates completely shut. So we will wait. Meanwhile, we can keep searching for Leone."

"Easier said than done." Isamu said. "That bar she was last seen in is down in the slums. She could have gone anywhere from there."

"True enough." Akame said and rose up. "Leone is strong, though. If she has died fighting, then we will probably be able to find traces of that battle."

Isamu nodded. "Yeah. I have a hard time imagining Leone going down without a fight. She is too street smart for that."

"Agreed. Though I don't have an explanation for why she isn't here if she hasn't run into trouble. I figure that the most hopeful guess is that she has found some kind of opportunity that she has been forced to pursue. And that she literally hasn't had time to contact us about it."

Isamu simply nodded.

"Either way, we are running out of time. The moment that Esdese returns to the capital, the palace will probably start opening its gates again. And then we will have a lot more to do. We won't have time to search for Leone then. We need to find her before that."

"I will tell the others to keep their eyes up." Isamu said and turned around. "Maybe some of them have heard something of value."

"One more thing, Isamu." Akame said as his hand grabbed the door handle. He looked at her over his shoulder. "How is your training with Black Marlin coming along?"

"At about the pace that we set out. Though I am currently a little bit behind schedule. But I will rectify that in the coming days."

"Good." Akame said. "You will need the be in top shape when the fights start coming. One day we will have to face off against Esdese. On that day I will need the support of Black Marlin to counter her ice."

Isamu nodded again. "I will be ready. I promise you that."

Akame returned his nod. "Go. And pray that we find Leone soon enough."

Isamu turned around and left the room. After he was gone, Akame leaned back in her chair again with a sigh. She wasn't even sure if her plan would work against Esdese. It was mostly a desperate gamble.

But then again, she reflected, most of her choice seemed to be that these days.

* * *

When Esdese rode into the main yard of the palace, she was met by general Gallus and his retinue of personal guards. Maybe thirty of them standing behind him. Waiting for her on the opposite side from the gate she entered the yard through. The big man himself was wearing the same religious, black and white robes that he usually wore. His hands holding each other over his large stomach. The giant hammer that was his teigu strapped across his back.

Esdese cold and sharp eyes held his gaze from the moment the yard's giant doors were opened for her and the military procession behind her.

She rode directly up to him.

When one of the stable boys had run up to her and grabbed the reins of her horse,she jumped off it in a single fluid motion. Her piercing glare not leaving his eyes for a moment. If she had even blinked once since she rode in, Gallus had not been able to discern it. She took the last couple of steps towards him and then stopped. Her hands closed into fists at her sides. For a short moment, everyone in the yard held their breath.

Then Gallus quickly bowed down. Crouching down on one knee. His own retinue following him down into kneeling position. Staring down at the ground. Most of the soldiers posted in the yard did the same. Except for those that were arriving with Esdese. Still riding into the yard behind her.

"The leader of the imperial military has returned! The one responsible for keeping the empire steady through the turmoils that has been!" Gallus boomed out. In his loudest voice. Then he turned his head up towards her. Speaking in a calmer demeanor. "It is good to see you again, great general. I am at your service."

Esdese took a deep, calming breath and even if her expression didn't change, her hands relaxed a bit. Even if they still remained closed. "I assume that I don't have to tell you how you have failed me." she said. Her voice so cold and calm that a scream would almost have been less threatening.

"I have kept the peace in the city." Gallus said. Sounding humble even when he was defending himself. "You never ordered me to seize control over the political scene or halt any of its progress."

"You were ordered to keep me informed about everything major that was going on. During my absence, the martial law was broken, a new emperor was appointed and nearly three hundred of my own men were executed in the form of the new imperial guard. And I first learned about all of this many days after it had all happened." she said. Looking down at him. Her glare drilling into his eyes. "Tell me, general Gallus. Do these not seem like major things happening to you?"

"I had to prioritize, great general. I had to focus on making sure that stability was kept and that the passing of power was done orderly."

"So much that you didn't even have time to order someone to send me a letter?" Esdese said. Not letting him get away at all.

Gallus remained silent for a little bit after that.

"And let's talk about that passing of power, Gallus." Esdese went on when he didn't speak. "The words in your letter said that the military leadership of the capital had helped the new emperor ascend to his position. It said that you were united when you dismantled the martial law that I put into place. Which means that you voted against my orders as well, didn't you, Gallus?"

Gallus kept meeting her gaze with the same humble expression. If the big man felt any fear, it did not show through. "I am deeply sorry if I have acted contradictory to your will, great general. I was always under the impression that you only held the position as head of state because of necessity. I always thought that you despised having to play that role."

"But I decided to keep playing it nonetheless. Didn't I?" Esdese said. Her arms moved up and crossed each other over her chest. "My resentment over my position was apparent but so was also my choice to stay in it. Yet now you and a handful of my other subordinates have decided that you were in the right to overrule my decision. Assuming that you all had a better grasp on my situation than I myself did. And you did it without even notifying me of it."

"They were only thinking about what was best for the empire. And I only thought about what you actually wanted, great general." Gallus said.

"Looks like mutiny from where I am standing." she said in the same cold and calm voice.

No fear or nervousness was visible on Gallus face but now he had started to sweat. A single drop trailing down from his temple as Esdese let her words sink in for some moments. The yard was silent enough for everyone to be able to discern every word they were saying. Her own men were dismounting behind her as the attendants walked up and met them. But everyone was keeping quiet. No one speaking a word in the yard. Except for the two generals.

"Great general, I am your servant. I have been as clear about that as I could have been. I swore myself to you after the death of great general Budo. And I have stayed loyal since then."

"Doesn't mean that you can't fail me."

Gallus closed his mouth and looked up at Esdese. Deciding to go for a different route in his attempts to dismantle the situation somewhat. He turned his head down as he spoke in his loud voice. "Great general, if I have failed you, I will atone for my mistakes in any way that you deem fit. But I hope you can understand that I thought this was the decision that you would regard as the best one."

Esdese let silence rule for some moments after Gallus' words. Letting the fear in the yard grow until she was satisfied with the tension around her. Knowing that everyone was listening to her every word. She sighed loudly.

"Maybe Tatsumi was right about you all along, general Gallus." she said and pushed some of her hair away.

"What?" Gallus said and looked up at her again.

"General, I can accept that you would think that I would be satisfied with your decisions to help revoke the martial law after I left the capital. Since it means that I can return to my role as a warrior. I can also buy that you could be stupid enough to believe that I would just accept that you let a new emperor be appointed without my involvement. While I was the highest ranking official in the empire. But if that was the facade you wanted to play, you made one fatal mistake."

Gallus looked up at Esdese as she bent forwards slightly. A smile without joy or kindness on her face. Her anger apparent. "My men, Gallus. You let some of my most loyal men hang for treason. Without even thinking about consulting me. There is not a single soul in the military that doesn't know that I reward those who serve me well. And those men were some of my best. And partly thanks to you, their reward for serving me was a noose."

"Great general, they all stood trial. They were all declared guilty. This was all done by the book."

Esdese hit Gallus so hard that three of his teeth landed on the ground before he did.

No one around them could see her arm move until it hit his face. The bang of her fist hitting his skull was so loud that some of the horses that had ridden in behind her veered away and tried to back off. Gallus body was thrown down to the side by the impact. His head flew down into the hard bricks and bounced back up before his momentum stopped. Lying on his stomach on the hard pavement.

Though amazingly enough, after he had stopped, his hands slowly came up and placed themselves on the ground. Slowly lifting him up. It was plain to see that he had gotten a concussion. His movements flimsy and his gaze unfocused as he slowly turned around so that he was facing her. Though how grave the damage was, was harder to decipher. He was bleeding from the side of his head, where he had hit the ground. His upper lip was smashed and some blood poured from his mouth.

When Esdese took a step towards him, he reached up with a hand towards the handle of the enormous hammer on his back.

"Careful now, general." Esdese's icy voice said. "Drawing a weapon against a superior officer will get you a harsh punishment in any court. Though I promise you, if your fingers touch the hilt of your hammer, then they will have to pass their judgment down on whatever pieces of you that they can scrape from the pavement of this yard."

Gallus hand stopped at that. The slight confusion from the hit to his head and the adrenaline from the pain was plain on his face. It took him almost two seconds, but then he regained control over himself. He immediately moved a bit forward so that he was sitting on his knees. He bowed to Esdese and smashed his fists down into the pavement. Bowing down to the point where his forehead was almost touching the ground.

"My deepest apologies, great general!" he shouted. "Your hit was so superb that it knocked me out of my senses. I would never draw a weapon against you. You know that I wouldn't."

Esdese put her hands on her hips. Her expression just as cold and unfriendly as before. Not giving away any clue to whether the punch had calmed her down or if the next one was just moments away.

"I am being completely serious with you right now, Gallus." Esdese said slowly. "We are having an honest discussion here, between master and underling. So if you throw such a bald-faced and pathetic excuse as "it was done by the book" in my face again, then the next hit will be harder."

"Great general, the courts deemed them-" Gallus said loudly into the ground.

Esdese didn't allow him to finish his sentence before she stepped down on the top of his head. Causing his forehead to hit the ground. It was not done in a stomping movement. So Gallus head was not smashed into the ground. But she kept her foot on top of his head. Forcing it down as she crossed her arms over her chest again.

"A court decided what would happen to my men, huh?" she said loudly. Anger finally starting to spill into her voice. "And tell me, Gallus, what is a court if not a bunch of people. In the end, you let the fate of my men be decided by those powerful enough to influence the jury and the judges."

"The court still has to obey the law." Gallus exclaimed. Which was rewarded by more pressure from her foot.

"And who writes the law in this nation, Gallus?!" Esdese said. Her voice clearly angry now. Even if she kept her cool. "The same people that are powerful enough to control the judges and the jury, you fool. Anyone of us could be condemned for treason in front of the right court. You already know this, Gallus. Don't you?"

"I..." Gallus said slowly.

"Lie to me now and I will turn your skull to mush under my foot." Esdese calmly stated.

Gallus hesitated for some moments. Then he finally gave up on his own version of the situation. "It is as you say, great general Esdese."

"And when you put it like that, it brings us to the same point that we started on." Esdese concluded. "You let my men die. And did nothing but nod and agree when they were executed. And then you send me a letter, acting as if you have done nothing to offend me."

Gallus remained silent after her summary.

"So now that we have dropped that charade, I hope that you have a good explanation for your actions ready for me. Because my patience has ended."

Gallus weighed his options carefully. He wasn't sure if he could take the middle road here. He might have to go all in on his dedication to Esdese in order to survive the coming time. But he wasn't fully convinced. Yet at the moment, he knew what he had to say. He couldn't defend anyone else in the capital if he was hoping to survive this minute. He could only hope to save himself.

"I am sorry, great general." Gallus said slowly, in a silent voice. "You ordered me to keep stability. I prioritized that. I knew that if I stood up for your men, it would have brought conflict to the capital. It might have come down to violence. I let your men die because I didn't want to turn the city that you entrusted me with into anarchy. That was my judgment. If it was not in accordance with your will, then I apologize. That was solely my mistake."

"And you couldn't find a way to subdue the forces that wanted the new imperial guard put to death?"

"Not without things turning to violence, great general. And I was not sure that I could limit that conflict when it had sparked. I didn't know if I could keep stability if things went that way. That might be a shortcoming on my part. And if it is, I apologize. But know that my loyalty to you was never swayed through all of this. I just couldn't find another way to solve it."

Esdese looked at him. Her expression had gone from cold to empty. Just staring down at the man for some time while deciding about his fate. But then, she finally moved her foot away from his head.

"Fine. I accept your decision."

Gallus rose his head from the ground and looked at her. Blood dripping down from the wound on his head as he did. "Thank you, great genral."

Esdese met his gaze for some moments. Then her eyes moved up and looked out over the yard. "Though you will take a tour down to the torture chambers for not informing me about this in time."

"The torture chambers?" Gallus said. Unable to keep some of the uncertainty out of his voice.

"You still failed to save my men and you didn't properly inform me about what was going on, Gallus. Some scars will help you remember to not fail me like that again."

The last minute had already made some heavy dents into Gallus' composure but now it was starting to become more and more apparent just how stressed the man was over the situation.

"Is that really necessary, great general. I still feel dizzy from the punch you gave me. And I will have to get some dental prosthetics for the teeth I lost."

"I hit you because you weren't being transparent with me. This is a different matter. I am your leader, Gallus. You are one of my soldiers. And I take care of my own. But that doesn't mean that you might not need a harsh lesson from time to time."

Gallus was unsure if it was wise to press the issue any further. But the prospect of torture made him risk it. "Great general, I am happy that you regard me as one of your own. But I still think this might be excessive. I have many duties that you have bestowed upon me. This will slow me down considerably."

"During most of my ride back to the capital, I have been discussing whether or not I should have you castrated as a punishment for your failure. You should consider yourself lucky to get away with just some scars." Esdese stated plainly. Her tone of voice telling that she considered this matter done with. "And if you are too weak to keep performing your duties after your punishments, then I will expect your resignation. If you slow my military down, you will be punished again."

Gallus realized that this battle was lost. His expression turning from uncertainty to resolve. He turned his head down again."Yes, great general."

Esdese nodded. A light murmur went through the people around them as she did. And she could tell that her discussion with Gallus had not been the cause of it. She looked over her shoulder and watched as Tatsumi finally rode into the yard. His part of the military procession first entering it now.

It was clear from the looks and whispering of the soldiers around them that most had thought that Tatsumi would be brought back in chains. Not that he would just be riding back into the palace at his own leisure. Esdese wondered just how many people there was that knew about the charges that had been directed at him. She couldn't help but feel that this had become quite a big topic in the palace and the capital itself.

Tatsumi jumped down from his horse as soon as one of the attendants had grabbed its reins. He chose to ignore all the people that were staring at him. He stretched his arms over his head and sighed loudly. Then he slowly walked over to Esdese. Not paying any heed to the blood splattered on the ground beside Gallus. Where the man's skull had hit the hard pavement. Walking up to her imposing figure at a lazy pace.

"Are we done here?" he asked without looking at Gallus.

"I think so." Esdese said. "Gallus, do you have any messages for me?"

"Yes. The emperor has been waiting for your arrival. He wants you to report to him in the main throne room." Gallus said in a little bit louder voice.

Esdese nodded and then looked at Tatsumi. "Let's go." she said with an empty voice.

Gallus hesitated for a moment before he spoke up. Knowing fully well that he was on thin ice. But he felt that he had to speak up. "Great general. My own mistakes aside, the emperor did order you to imprison the head administrator. I will not question your decision but I must warn that bringing the head administrator into the emperor's main chamber might create a lot of... tension." he said and looked up at her.

"Even more reason for him to come with me then." Esdese said calmly and started to walk away. "It will be a good and clear signal. Even that little pup that you have placed on the throne won't be able to miss that."

Gallus looked at Tatsumi and then back at her. He lowered his head once more.

"Actually." Tatsumi said. "I have a thing or two that I want to get done before that meeting. So could you go ahead without me? I will be with you in half an hour."

Esdese turned her head and looked at him. A bit of disapproval in her expression. She didn't like the sound of him wandering around on his own in the palace when the entire imperial guard might be under orders to attack him at sight.

"You will be discreet about whatever it is that you want to get done. If it looks like there will be fight, I will have you return to me. Is that understood?" she said in a hard voice.

"Absolutely." Tatsumi said calmly. "I don't intend to cause any trouble either way. I will meet up with you in the emperor's audience hall."

Esdese nodded and turned around. Leaving the yard in long and determined strides. Tatsumi looked at her back until she was gone. Then he turned his eyes to Gallus. "She can really be a bit too merciful at times."

"Truly." Gallus said and slowly stood up. "The great general has a big heart."

Tatsumi despised Gallus from the bottom of his being. Yet he couldn't help but chuckle at their current situation. Gallus smiled bitterly as Tatsumi chuckle slowly grew into a laugh. None of them particularly happy.

* * *

When Tatsumi finally arrived at the emperor's main audience room, almost an hour had already passed. By then, the room was already filled to the brink with warriors and soldiers.

When the two giant doors opened for him and he walked into the gigantic hall, he could feel how almost every single eye in the room turned in his direction.

The broad red carpet that lead from the big doors that he walked through to the base of the emperor's podium was basically the only empty part of the room. Otherwise, the room was overly crowded.

Each side of the carpet was occupied by ranks of soldiers from the imperial guard. Two rows on each side. Looking at him. Tatsumi was unsure if they were there to protect him from the crowd or if they were there as a safety against him. Beyond them, stood other warriors and soldiers. Not lined up in any military position.

Tatsumi barely recognized any of them. But he could feel that very few of the people present in the room had a friendly disposition towards him. He could feel it in how suspicious and condemning their expressions were.

In the back of the room, he could see some noblemen and other civilians but they were few and mostly pressed away to the sides in the room. Forced to stand by the walls and try to glimpse what was happening from there.

Most of those in the room that were not warriors or soldiers occupied the two large galleries that were slightly turned towards the podium of the emperor. Filled with ministers and politicians.

When Tatsumi and Esdese had left the capital, seven seats in those galleries had been in use. Occupied by the few leaders that they both agreed were suitable for their position. Since the black bath had wiped out almost all of the old ones. Now the galleries were occupied with more than fifty people and once again, he couldn't recognize a single one of them. After looking through them for some moments, he managed to find those seven that he had put there. Though now they were largely outnumbered.

The entire room was silent after the large doors had opened to let him in. His gaze wandered over all the people around him and then finally landed on Esdese. She was standing at the end of the carpet. By the base of the large stairs that led up to the podium. Her hands closed at her sides. She had been turned towards the throne. Her head turned up towards those standing at the top of the stairs. But now she was turning around. Her eyes landing on him as she turned around a bit. He had a hard time reading her expression. Though he could feel her anger.

Tatsumi took a deep breath and started to walk into the room. Heading towards the end of the podium and Esdese.

The room kept silent as he walked through it. His steps echoing through it. Most eyes following him. Tatsumi's own eyes looking up towards the top of the podium.

He had to admit to himself that Kotaro looked a lot more like an emperor than Makoto ever had. Though the imposingly large throne of his family did have the effect of making him look a lot more like a child than he was. He was dressed up in the large and pompous clothes of the royal family. He was holding the scepter of his predecessor in one hand and had his other one resting on the large throne's armrest. Tatsumi had never seen him so dressed up. Or so stale. He couldn't tell if he was nervous but it was apparent that he was uncomfortable with the situation.

Faye was standing beside the large throne. Her hands behind her back. A sweet smile on her face. Her eyes moving between Tatsumi and Esdese. Gallus was standing at the other side of the throne. He had gotten some treatment for his head injury. Bandages wrapped around his head. The big man seemed just as tense as the small emperor.

When he reached the end of the stairs he gave Esdese a quick glance. She nodded at him. Tatsumi returned the gesture. Feeling a little bit calmer. It was the two of them against the rest of the room.

When he had reached her side, he looked up at the emperor.

"Hello there, Kotaro." he said loudly and smiled up at the young man. "You seem to have been busy while I was gone."

Kotaro looked down at him. His expression a blank mask. "I have learned a lot of things in your absence, Tatsumi."

"I can see that." Tatsumi answered in the same happy tone. "Sorry, that it took some time for me to return."

Before Kotaro could answer, general Faye spoke up. "It is a bit surprising to see you just walk in her on your own, head administrator Tatsumi." she said in her overly sweet voice. "Great general, I thought you were ordered to arrest the head administrator and bring him back to the capital in chains."

Esdese started to smile. "Ohh but Faye, I am the great general. I only take orders from my emperor. And I have not acknowledged Kotaro as my emperor."

The silence got considerably more tense after her words. Just as she had desired. Everyone understanding just how dire the situation actually was. The realization that this might turn to violence dawning on those who hadn't realized it yet.

Tatsumi was the first one to speak again. Doing his best to work against Esdese's clear wish to escalate the situation. "Listen, you wanted me here, Kotaro. And here I am. No need to sweat the details of how I got here."

He got assistance through the surprising agreement from general Gallus. His deep and preaching voice echoing through the hall. "Tatsumi's words are reasonable, emperor. Let's not dwell on the small stuff."

Kotaro nodded slowly. "Head administrator Tatsumi, general Faye has been presenting a lot of evidence about your misconducts to the imperial court. You have been charged with high treason. For trying to take control of the political scene. Through you, the new imperial guards have assassinated leaders of the military, the imperial court, and highly associated businessmen. Do you deny these charges?"

Tatsumi could tell that this was a well-rehearsed speech. He put his hands in his pockets. "I have only been working to give the empire back to the people. That is all that I have done." he said with a calm smile.

"So you do deny them?" Kotaro said.

"I deny being any more deserving of punishment than anyone else in this room." Tatsumi said. He then smiled a bit more warmly towards Kotaro. "Come on, Kotaro. You know me. I have always been all about saving the empire from its own grim conducts."

And finally, Tatsumi could see some conflict in Kotaro's face. It was only there for some moments before Faye put a hand on his shoulder. Making his face blank again. But Tatsumi saw it. A hint of uncertainty and pain in his expression. It made Tatsumi realize that Kotaro was not fine with this in any way imaginable. He hated this situation. And that gave Tatsumi hope. He took it as a confirmation that his original estimation of Kotaro had always been correct. He was a good kid.

And if he was honest with himself, Tatsumi couldn't help but relate to Kotaro's position. He had been assassinating imperial leaders ever since he became a proper adult. First as Night raid and then as Esdese's subordinate. If Kotaro had happened to glimpse at all the things he had done, then he could not blame the boy for his actions. Even Tatsumi himself found it harder to differentiate himself from the dead prime minister with every passing day. Since Esdese had made him into the head administrator, Tatsumi had ordered assassinations, eliminated oppositions and kidnapped family members of other politicians to ensure their loyalty. Kotaro probably had no idea of the history of those that Tatsumi had targeted. He probably knew nothing of their loyalty to the dead prime minister and how cruel they had been. He only knew how Tatsumi had treated them. And Tatsumi had a feeling that he would have a hard time defending his actions when Esdese was his partner.

So maybe this was the best solution for the empire, Tatsumi thought. That he should go down as the last remnant of that corrupt and destructive system.

He shrugged. "But fine, if you want to hold trials over my fate then I-" he started before he was interrupted.

"Whatever kind of punishment it might be deemed that Tatsumi deserves is irrelevant." Esdese called out in a foreboding tone. "He belongs to me. I am the one who decides about his fate. Not a jury. Not a judge. Not the imperial court and certainly not a self-proclaimed emperor without experience or accolades."

She took one slow step up on the stairs. "And while I'm at it. I might as well ask about the execution of my men." she said and took another. "By what military practice is it allowed to not even notify a soldier's superior when he has been charged with a crime? As far as I know, the accusations of my men first has to pass through me."

"The emperor have the authority to overrule any military standards." Faye said in the same friendly tone. Even if Tatsumi thought that she sounded a little bit more tense than usual. "The emperor was very benevolent to cleanse out this impurity from your forces, great general. He spared you a lot of work."

"Without even notifying me." Esdese said slowly as she took another step. Getting ever closer to those standing at the top. "Do you expect me to be grateful?"

"You should be grateful that the emperor himself decided to act in your place." Faye said and subtly took a small step forward. Moving a little bit in front of the imperial throne.

"He is not my emperor." Esdese stated. Making most of the room hold their breath. Bringing the situation to its core. Because whether or not Tatsumi would stand trial was not the main issue in this situation. Even if those standing on top of the podium had clearly hoped that it would be. Since they knew that if Esdese didn't accept Kotaro's ascent to power, then few in the giant hall would probably leave it alive.

Esdese took the final step and suddenly she was standing right in front of Kotaro. Looking down at him where he was sitting. Faye edging as much in between them as she could without obscuring them form each other. Gallus looking very troubled but not moving to any side yet. Not showing any signs of loyalty.

"Why should I follow your orders, boy?" Esdese asked. Not sounding threatening or accusing. Her entire presence growing still and calm for some moments. Just asking the simple question. "What have you done to warrant my loyalty, Kotaro?"

Everyone in the room looked at Esdese and the emperor. Faye's smile was gone. Looking fully serious for once. Gallus was sweating quite profusely now. Not making an effort wipe his forehead. He didn't dare to move his arm up. For both he and Faye had the same premonition. If Kotaro's answer did not satisfy Esdese, she would likely strike him down. And after that, the room would turn into chaos. Bloody, violent and deadly chaos.

Even Tatsumi was tense. Looking up at what was happening at the top of the podium.

Kotaro looked Esdese in the eyes. His head tilted upwards. Then he bowed forward and slowly stood up from the throne. The fact that he still was considerably shorter than her did lessen the effect of it slightly but it still gave off an air of seriousness. The boy looked up at her after that. Speaking in a loud and clear voice when he gave his answer.

"Esdese. You are the strongest warrior known to the empire. Probably in the world. What accolades could anyone hold when compared to you?" he said in a steady voice. Sounding more like a leader than Tatsumi had ever heard him sound before. "You are a leader, Esdese. People rally to your power. But you are not a ruler. You yourself has stated this in my presence before. You don't want to dedicate your life to looking after those who follow you. Am I right?"

Esdese didn't answer. Just looking at him. Her face blank. Yet Kotaro pressed on as if he had gotten an answer.

"I had a feeling that it might come to this. So let me make this clear, ice queen. I am in your debt. You have held the empire together in the absence of competent leaders and good politicians. You have used your immense power to hold it all together. For that, I will forever be in your debt. So what I am asking of you, Esdese, isn't your servitude. I am asking for your help. I am asking for your partnership in ruling this nation. So that I can relieve you of some of your duties and hopefully find a way to repay you for your contributions to this nation."

Silence followed after Kotaro's loud statement. Esdese just studying him. Her face empty of emotions. It was clear to Tatsumi that she was as surprised by Kotaro's speech as he was. "And if I don't find you worthy of ruling the nation that I have protected?" she asked after a little while.

"You have protected the nation up until this point. I think that you will protect it from incompetence as well. So if you at some point find me unworthy or incompetent. Then I implore you to strike me down."

Esdese didn't give a clear answer immediately. But Tatsumi had already reached his decision. He had listened closely to Kotaro and studied him well. He was hiding it well, but the boy was well aware that he might be seconds away from his end. He kept a calm and dignified demeanor but Tatsumi had been with the boy long enough to see that he was really scared right now.

And that was enough to convince Tatsumi of what he should do. Kotaro would be a good ruler. He was sure of it now. Just as long as he wasn't corrupted by some outside sources. But he thought the Kotaro was a bit too old to be a good puppet. He was too independent. And he might be the best shot he had at finding a leader for the future. So he had to save him.

He wasn't actually sure what Esdese was going to do. If she was going to answer to him or if she would just strike him down before anyone had a chance to react. But if she did that, the situation would be irreversible. Most of the people in the room would die and the empire would once again only have himself and Esdese to rely on. He needed to stop that before it happened. And he only knew of one way to do it.

"Fine!" he said loudly. "Emperor Kotaro, your words have convinced me. I will accept you as the emperor. I will accept any judgement that you seem fit for my perceived crimes."

Most eyes in the room turned to him as he spoke. Kotaro looking down at him and Esdese turning around slightly. Light annoyance apparent on her face.

Tatsumi smiled up at them. Scratching the back of his head. "Soooo.. you wanted a trial, right?"

Kotaro nodded. "You deserve a chance to defend your innocence, Tatsumi."

Tatsumi was about to nod but Esdese superseded him.

"There will be no trial!" she hissed loudly and quickly turned her head back in Kotaro's direction. The anger reemerging on her face. The open hostility causing Kotaro to flinch and take a step backward.

"I'm fine with a trial." Tatsumi said and put his hands in his pockets again.

"You have no say in the matter." Esdese said with irritation and turned her head back towards him. "You belong to me. Your fate is for me to decide. I won't give that away to a jury or a judge."

"Ohh come on." Tatsumi said with a smile that was way more relaxed than he was. "Let them have their little charades. It will be an easy win for me anyway." he said. Knowing fully well that he probably wouldn't be found innocent.

Gallus was quick to jump on to the chance to dismantle the situation that Tatsumi had offered. "If the head administrator is so confident that he can win, then this trial will be of little consequence, great general. There is no reason for you to concern yourself with it."

Esdese's eyes remained on Tatsumi for a while before she spoke. "Alright then. Have your little trial. But if he is found guilty, don't act surprised when you find me standing between him and the executioner."

She cast a last glance over her shoulder at Kotaro. "And I will be watching you, little emperor. The moment I find you too inept for your role, I will remove you from your seat."

With those words, Esdese turned and started to walk down the stairs again. Her eyes closed. Dissatisfaction filling her expression.

The room stayed silent but everyone could feel how the tensions had lessened. People finally daring to breathe out. Gallus wiped the sweat away from his forehead. Faye taking a step back. Even Tatsumi felt a bit relieved. Even if he knew that he hadn't solved the problem. Just postponed it until the day of the trial.

Yet he couldn't help but smile a little at her as Esdese walked down the stairs. Not that she returned the expression. Her face only showing mild irritation. She was not used to having to back off. The compromise left her feeling dissatisfied.

"Let's go." she said silently as she passed him.

"Right." Tatsumi said and looked up at Kotaro. The boy looking back at him. Tatsumi nodded slowly. Then he turned around and started to walk in Esdese's footsteps. She was still about ten meters ahead of him when Faye's voice called out.

"Though, the crimes that the head administer has been charged with are quite monstrous. He will, of course, need to be locked up in a penitentiary until his trial." she called out.

Tatsumi spun around and looked up at her. "I'm sorry what?" he said. Not able to believe what she was saying.

"No single citizen is above the law. You will have to face the same procedure as everyone else." Faye said and nodded to some of the guards at the base of the stair. Five of them immediately moved out from the line and walked towards him. Lead by a captain. All members of the imperial guard. It was apparent that they had been waiting for this signal to arrest him since he walked into the room. He felt his jaw drop slightly.

_YOU FUCKING IDIOT_, he screamed in his head. They had barely managed to just avoid complete disaster, and now Faye was once again risking to turn everything to hell. Just because she was trying to make some kind of example out of the situation. Kotaro was looking at her but then nodded. Gallus seemed just as surprised by this as Tatsumi. His head moving back and forth between Faye and his emperor.

"Uuh.. well..." Tatsumi said and looked over his shoulder at Esdese. She had stopped but she hadn't turned around. Which scared him even more. She had been about to kill everyone in this room beside the two of them before Kotaro held his little speech. He had no idea of how she would react to this. "Well... of course. Of course!" he said. Desperately trying to play this off as no big deal.

Faye nodded. Her voice back to its usual sweet tone when she spoke. "You will be imprisoned in the dungeons until the day of your trial."

"Absolutely." Tatsumi said loudly. Close to panicking.

The men walked up to him. He smiled at them. "Lead the way, fellas."

The captain of the men nodded. But Tatsumi knew that it was too late. He had felt it from Esdese. Not because she was radiating hostility but because her entire presence had grown quiet again. And when the captain's two men walked up to his sides and grabbed his arms, he got his confirmation.

"Who do you think you are touching?" Esdese said calmly.

Suddenly she was just two meters behind him. Tatsumi had no idea of when she had gotten so close. She looked surprised. Almost shocked as she stared at the five soldiers around Tatsumi. Two of them holding his arms.

"Great general." The captain said and walked up in front of his men. Placing himself between her and Tatsumi. "I have been given clear and reasonable orders. You can't blame me for following them, great general."

"Your orders clearly go against the real leadership of the military." she stated in a plain voice. Her expression still kind of surprised.

"I have sworn my loyalty to the empire. The emperor seems to favor this course of action. Please don't condemn me for that loyalty.

"I will not captain. I respect loyalty." she said in same empty voice. "But you are going to die because of it."

Tatsumi turned around as fast as he could. "Wait, Esd-" he started to shout but didn't get further than that before the military captain came flying past him. Less than half a second after that, Esdese flew past him as well.

And suddenly the four soldiers standing around him gently and softly blew away with the wind of Esdese's passing. Shattering into thousands and thousands of pieces as they did. Drifting away in the air. It took Tatsumi some moments to realize that all the four men standing around him had been turned into something akin to snow. Esdese hitting them so hard just the moment before she froze them. Causing them to literally dissipate into the air.

But the snow like substance was not white but red. And parts of it were too heavy to float in the wind. Raining down over the red carpet. And when the snow drifted away and landed, it melted into blood. It looked beautiful, in a horrifying way.

Someone screamed in the back of the large hall and suddenly everyone was drawing their weapons. The long row of guards that were standing all around them lowered their spears. Most of them pointed at Esdese but some at Tatsumi as well. Tatsumi quickly looked around him as he turned towards Esdese. Noticing how most warriors behind the lines of soldiers were drawing their weapons as well. All eyes focused at the two of them.

Esdese didn't seem to pay mind to any of it. She had grabbed the captain by one of his wrists. Lifting him up with it. Since his legs seemed to have given up on him. He was bleeding heavily from a broken nose but he seemed to still be conscious. Looking up at Esdese as she lifted him up a little bit.

"Do you know what happens when liquid is frozen?" She said as her free hand moved down towards his face. "It expands. So what do you think will happen if I just freeze the blood in your body and not anything else, foolish little captain?"

"Call me stupid if you want, great general. It was you that made me into a captain." he said.

Esdese raised her eyebrows slightly. "Ahh, yes. I remember your face but not your name." she said in a lighter tone. "You made quite a scene when you kneeled in front of me. You asked me to date you just after I had bestowed your new rank upon you."

"I thought it would seem sweet." the captain said and smiled sadly.

"It was." Esdese said and returned his smile with a small smile of her own as two of her fingers came down and touched the blood on his upper lip.

A loud ripping sound rang out over the noise in the hall around them as Esdese froze all the blood in the captain's body in the blink of an eye. He didn't even have time to scream. When Esdese removed her fingers from the man, his entire body had expanded considerably. In all directions. His fingers looking like sausages and some clothes ripped apart by his expanding body.

"Hmm." Esdese said and studied her creation. "Seems like the skin only bursts when you do it on someone with more fat on them."

The look of the man was nothing short of grotesque. Since some parts of him had expanded more than others. Since he didn't have the same amount of blood in all the parts of his body. It was most apparent in the horrible appearance of his face. His lips and eyes had burst as all the liquid in them froze and expanded. Creating small frozen pillars that peaked out of his skull. The skull itself looked kind of uneven. Since the all the blood in the brain had expanded instantly and shattered the bone around it.

Some moments after Esdese had removed her hand from it. The frozen blood sculpture slowly tipped over. Landing on the floor with a loud bang but it still didn't shatter.

Esdese nodded at it. "Skin can really be quite flexible."

When those words had rung out, the entire political audience in the room suddenly decided that they would rather be somewhere else. Immediately.

Whether they were in the large galleries or in the back of the room, all of them suddenly started to run, shove and push. Desperate to leave the room. Screaming and shouting. Causing the volume in the room to rise even further. Making the room more chaotic than it already was.

"Order! Order!" Gallus shouted loudly but few seemed to hear him.

The soldiers had started to form a ring around Esdese and Tatsumi at this point. Their spears pointed at them. Even if no one dared to go closer. The many warriors that stood outside of the ring following every move of Tatsumi and Esdese. Their many different weapons drawn. Even if it was easy to see that some of them would rather prefer to flee with the politicians.

Faye took a couple of quick steps forward and then jumped off the podium. Flying down through the room and landing inside the circle. Just in front of Esdese and Tatsumi. Causing a smile to spread on Esdese's face. Calmly grabbing the hilt of her sheathed sword.

"Great general, you are murdering your own soldiers." she called out. "Please, seize this madness."

Tatsumi thought that he understood what Faye was trying to do. His guess was that she was trying to make Esdese an enemy of the empire by forcing her into a corner like this. Where she would either have to lash out or bend to the new leadership of the empire. But if that was the plan, then that was an incredibly stupid one at that. Esdese would never bend and if she lashed out now, it would mean the end of all of them. And probably the end of Tatsumi's chances to ever create a peaceful empire as well.

Esdese herself didn't seem to dislike this turn of events at all, though. Her smile growing as she slowly started to draw her weapon. "I am the great general!" she called out loudly. "Leader of all the military might of the empire. If you choose to turn your weapons on me, you have made yourself guilty of treason. If you drop your weapons this instant, I will let you get away with some torture and light mutilation."

No one moved as she drew her sword fully from its sheath. Faye had not brandish any sort of weapon. Her expression conflicted. "Tatsumi has been accused of controlling and corrupting the entire imperial court behind the scenes. He can't be allowed to roam free in the palace before the trial. He will be able to affect the results of it."

Tatsumi realized that this was his last chance. Cause nothing she had said would halt Esdese's hand. But it did give him an opportunity. He had a creeping suspicion that that had been her plan all along but he wasn't convinced. Either way, he decided to go for it.

"Okay, okay, okay!" he called out loudly and walked forward a bit. "How about this then, you will not lock me up but I will be forbidden from entering the higher levels of the palace. I will take up residence in the barracks or the dungeon. I will not be locked up but I will not be allowed to interact with the leadership of the empire."

Faye eyes quickly moved back and forth between him and Esdese. Not daring to leave Esdese with her eyes for too long. "I guess that would be reasonable. But you will need to be closely monitored."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Tatsumi said quickly. His voice stressed and nervous. "That will suffice. Now lay down your weapons immediately."

Faye hesitated for the brink of a second. Then she took her decision.

She quickly kneeled down on one knee. Staring down into the carpet. "Justice will be done with this. The military is at your disposal, great general."

Tatsumi felt confused. He didn't understand what Faye just had tried to do. What was her real motive? Either way, it didn't matter at the moment. He needed to calm the situation. Or rather, calm Esdese.

He took two steps up to her and grabbed her hand. The one not holding her sword. But Esdese's eyes did not leave the kneeling Faye. "Come on, Esdese. Let's leave." he said.

But Esdese didn't move. Her expression had grown a bit more empty again. "You really are a false creature, Faye." she finally said.

Faye looked up from the floor. But when she turned her face up towards them, Esdese's foot hit her face.

The kick was strong enough to send her flying backwards. Right into the line of soldiers that were standing around them. Causing them to fall over.

"General Faye!" Kotaro called out. Having watched the situation unfold from on top of the podium. Staying quiet until now.

"Drop your weapons!" Esdese commanded loudly to those around them. "If you do, I will let you all get away with some torture."

No one moved at first. The room silent. But then one or two dropped their weapons. And the next second, everyone was throwing down their weapons and kneeling down. Putting their heads close to the floor. At first just the ring of soldiers but when Esdese's eyes landed on those behind them, those warriors started to do the same. All of them loyal to Faye. All of them submitting to Esdese.

When the entire room was kneeling, a smile spread across her face. "Be thankful that you will be tortured for this. Be thankful that I am so kind." she said and then raised her voice a bit. "Remember this. I am Esdese, the ice queen! I am war incarnate. And opposing me means death. At best."

She pointed her sword at Kotaro. Everyone in the room kneeling down towards her except him and Gallus. And Faye who seemed to be knocked out. "This is power, little emperor. This is the difference between you and me."

Kotaro stood at the top of the stairs. His mouth partly open.

"Now if you excuse me." Esdese said and sheathed her sword in a quick move. "It seems like the cleansing of my military is far from done. I need to establish some discipline in my lines once more. So I have a lot of work ahead of me."

"Great general." Kotaro called out. "Please don't be too cruel in your conducts. I beg you."

Esdese's smile got a ridiculing tone to it. "What kind of emperor begs his generals to do what he wants?" she said and turned around. Suddenly her hand closed around Tatsumi's. He had kept holding it in an attempt to calm her but now she took hold of him. Dragging him with her as she turned around and started to walk out of the room. Leaving all the kneeling people behind her.

"I will expect all of you to walk down to the torture chambers on your own during the coming days. I will see to it that everyone here is accounted for. So I will know if a single one of you will try to sneak away or try to escape your punishment." she called out as she left the room. She seemed to suddenly be in a rather good mood.

She didn't wait for any form of answer before she left the hall. Walking with Tatsumi in tow. They walked for almost a minute before Tatsumi spoke. "That was intense." he said silently. "Are you okay? You really scared me back there."

Esdese just looked at the long corridor ahead of them as she spoke. A smile on her face. "Life really is all about perspectives, Tatsumi. I was annoyed with this widespread insubordination. But if you look at it from a different perspective, this gives me a chance to re-establish who is in charge. And remind those who follow me what it means to oppose me. And that process can probably be a lot of fun."

Tatsumi swallowed lightly. He had avoided a direct disaster. But he did not think that he had solved anything. Just postponed it.

* * *

**Author's very long note:**

**Don't expect the next chapter to be even close to this size. This was double the length of some of my average chapters. But hopefully the next chapter won't take as long.**

**After reading the latest chapter of the manga, it is becoming more and more apparent how different Esdeath from the manga now has become from the Esdese of Bent but not Broken. The branching point between the different sides of the character was when Tatsumi refused her in the manga. Back in the dungeons. Which is where this story began. **

**Esdeath of the manga has since then changed a lot as a character. She has evolved(or devolved) quite a bit. Especially now towards the end. She no longer cares that much about the empire. The faction that she earlier seemed so loyal towards. In the latest chapter, it was also quite heavily insinuated that she doesn't care if she happens to kill the families of her subordinates with her winter attack. Which earlier was one of the main points as to why she seemed to hate Wild Hunt. Because they killed Bols family.**

**Now this is a pretty reasonable development of her character. She has lost all her closest subordinates and friends. She has come to understand that she will never have Tatsumi. Almost all of her soldiers have surrendered. And the nation she fought for is gone. All that remain is her. All that remains for her is the thrill of the war and her own bloodlust. ****And based on how calmly she is handling the situation, it seems like she knew it would come to this. Or maybe she is just used to being the only one left standing. **** So the current development of her character is understandable.**

**But it is different from the Esdese of Bent but not Broken. Where she got the love she desired and still has things she cares about. So I found the logical progression of the character a bit different. But it is sometimes hard to tell if I am being too much of an EsdesexTatsumi shipper and allows that to affect my judgment. That I am making her a bit more humane than she actually is. As I said, it is hard for me to tell anymore.**

**Thank you all for reading. I don't know how many of you are still out there but I am thankful for each and every one of you. And thanks for all the feedback. It has been amazing. The next chapter will not take this long. That I can guarantee. Hopefully just two-three weeks.**

**Until next time, happy halloween!**

**Take care of each other.**


	49. A fear of sparks

**A moderately important messages at the end of the chapter. Well... moderately important if you like the story at least.**

* * *

**A fear of sparks.**

The room was cold and damp when Tatsumi entered it, carrying the box with his belongings. Its stone walls and floor were cold and unwelcoming. It was not well lit up. A single lamp hanging from the ceiling. With the exception of a small bed that was pushed into a corner, the room was empty. Lacking furniture, ornaments, and windows. The door Tatsumi walked through was thick and made of steel.

He took some steps into the room. Carrying his box in front of him with both his hands. He looked around himself in the cabin like chamber.

"Huh.. well. I have certainly lived in worse." he said to himself and looked down at his box.

He had been a bit surprised over how few things he actually owned. The only thing that actually took some space was Incursio. Which he had to strap across his back. But other than that, his clothes and belongings could easily fit into the single cardboard box he had with him.

He stared down at the box as he walked into the middle of the room. Closing the door behind him with his foot. He had come into Esdese's "service" with almost no belongings aside from what he had been carrying on him. But it seemed like he hadn't gained particularly many new ones during his time in the capital. Almost all the things he used in his everyday life belonged to Esdese or the empire.

He had gathered up his meager belongings in just half an hour. Walking around alone in Esdese's large apartments. No longer allowed to live there. Esdese herself absent. Occupied with other things. And when he had collected everything in his box, he had trotted down towards the dungeons. Where his new allocated living space was. Placed really close to the prison cells. He couldn't help but suspect that this room had been one of those until recently.

Not that it was an especially small apartment. It was spartan but few things seemed luxurious when compared with the luxuries and extravagance that the imperial elite enjoyed. After looking around a bit, Tatsumi noticed that he had both a bathtub and a storage room that was large enough to probably fit a horse in it.

"Good." he said and picked up his extra boots from his box. Throwing them down in the middle of the empty and slightly damp room. "If it just comes down to space, I still seem to be having more than I need." he said to himself and closed the door.

He walked over to his bed and put down the box beside it. He sighed and looked out over the room. "From king to a beggar in the blink of an eye." he said silently.

Living together with Esdese had given him a lot of priveledges that he had almost forgotten about. Since he had been with her for so long. He had had everything that one could wish for within an arms reach. At least when it came to luxuries and comfort. Enjoying the same benefits that the leaders of the empire did. But now he had been banished from those circles. No longer allowed to visit the higher levels of the palace.

It struck him just how few things he had left that wasn't connected to Esdese somehow.

Back in the throne room, when things were growing dire, he himself had proposed this expulsion. In order to prevent things from turning into something akin to a civil war. But when it actually came down to the move itself, he realized that he literally had nowhere to go. He didn't own any accommodation or apartments. He had no place to stay.

So he had been forced to go down to the administration of Esdese's legions and ask if they had any room that he could use. Or if he could stay in one of their barracks. After waiting for an hour, he was given a room. Positioned down in the lower parts of the palace. On the same floor as the dungeons. Just above the torture chambers.

So after fetching his stuff he had now arrived in his new home.

He reached out with his arms and fell down into the bed, face first. Something he immediately regretted. As he was met by the strong smell of mold and felt that the bed itself was also slightly damp. He felt convinced that there were other things living in the mattress that he would have to share the bed with. He sighed silently into the damp fabric.

"I can make this work." he mumbled.

It was true that he had lived in much worse circumstances but he couldn't help but miss his old comforts. He wished that the covers had smelled like he was used to. The perfume from detergent mixed with the womanly smell of Esdese.

There was a knock on the door and before Tatsumi had turned around fully, the door opened. An officer of the imperial guard walked into the room. A big man. Well-trained with a rough and weathered appearance. Followed by a couple of soldiers. He stopped and saluted Tatsumi after a couple of steps into the room. As Tatsumi slowly sat up in the bed.

"Head administrator." he said in a slightly loud voice. "My name is Vult. I have been given the mission of overlooking the monitoring of you until the day of your trial."

Tatsumi nodded to him. "Nice of you to at least introduce yourself. May I ask who you received your orders from?"

"The emperor himself has bestowed this task on me." the man said. "I have had the honor of being entrusted with this task and the resources to see it done."

"Yeah. What an honor it must be." Tatsumi said with light sarcasm. Slowly standing up. "But fine, Officer. Let me give you some advice. Try to be as open and transparent with me as possible when it comes to this task. The more you talk to me about it, the easier this will be for the both of us. And I don't know if this needs saying but when Esdese is close, you should try to be as discreet about this as possible. She will be acutely aware of you already, so try to keep a distance. If she addresses you or gives you an order, you better comply as fast as possible. She is not in a forgiving mood when it comes to disobedience right now. So even just some hesitation can cost you a lot. If you have trouble with something that concerns her, you take it with me when she is not around. Understood?"

The man nodded. "I will be posting men outside of this room. They will keep a healthy distance but they will be overlooking this room's only exit. When you leave or move around in the palace and the capital, I will have a team prepared to shadow you. We will do our best to not be too intrusive. But I hope that you understand that this mission will force us to intrude into your life."

"Yeah, yeah. Just be careful. I don't want this situation to get worse than it is."

The officer nodded and saluted. "I will return shortly with more details about how we will handle this, head administrator." he exclaimed and turned around. Walking out of the room. His men following him.

Tatsumi stared at the door after they had left. Being monitored by the imperial guard would probably not be too much of a hinder for him. He didn't keep many secrets from Esdese anymore. And he had to guess that the evidence that would be presented towards him in the trial probably contained most of the things he had done together with the new imperial guard. So he didn't really have anything to be secretive about just now.

His biggest problem was that he no longer could interact with the leadership of the empire. Ever since he had killed the prime minister, his entire goal had been to remake the empire into something much better. But now he was completely excluded from that process. He could no longer affect the direction the empire moved in. Not that he had ever been in full control. But now he had lost what little influence he had.

He slowly fell down with his back against the bed. Looking up at the stone ceiling. Thinking about his situation. Should he really be here? Could he really justify being a part of the empire now that his chances to affect it had been so diminished?

For all he knew, he might soon be forbidden from even leaving this room. He wouldn't be too surprised if that soon came to pass. He sighed.

Not that he couldn't just activate Incursio and move around freely if he so desired. It had just become so much harder for him to control the situation through manipulation. He had lost control. And he didn't think he could regain it through force without things turning into hell.

He heard the door open again.

"You know, officer." Tatsumi said without looking away from the ceiling. "If you want to keep a healthy distance, it might be good to start knocking before you enter."

"And why would I want to keep a healthy distance?" Esdese questioned. Causing Tatsumi to quickly rise up in the bed again. Surprised eyes staring at her as she walked into the middle of the room.

"What is such a lady doing in a beautiful room such as yourself?" Tatsumi said. Intentionally stumbling on his words. Trying to be witty while still recovering from the surprise that he had been unable to sense her approach.

Esdese gave him a ridiculing smile. "Quite a silver tongue you got there." she said and then looked around the room. Measuring it with her eyes. "Hmph. Well, it could be worse." she said to herself.

"No but seriously, though." Tatsumi said as Esdese walked towards the door that lead to his new bathroom. Exploring his new living quarters. "What owes me this pleasure?"

"People seems to be quite attentive about your actions right now, Tatsumi." Esdese said and opened the door to his bathroom. Peeking her head in and looking around. "One of my couriers came running to me to tell that you had been placed down here. I had not even ordered them to inform me about your whereabouts yet they did it anyway. And I honestly don't know if I should be annoyed or thankful." she said and closed the door to his bathroom.

"I thought you were busy." Tatsumi said and looked at her from the bed.

"I was." she said and started to walk towards the second and last room in his living quarters. "I intend to restructure the military leadership a bit. So that what happened during our campaign against the western incursion can never be repeated."

"I want to say that that sounds good but I have a feeling that what you call "restructuring" entails some rather hard and traumatizing lessons for some poor unsuspecting people." Tatsumi said. He couldn't help but feel a little happiness as he looked at Esdese. Curiously exploring his rooms. At times she could seem like such a little girl. Just wanting to learn and explore new things. Trying to discover some new entertainment. He could see how the same nature manifested itself when she was fighting as well. Even if the consequences were often horrible.

"Sometimes you need to make an example or two." Esdese said nonchalantly. She opened the door to the last of the two rooms in his now rather sparse living quarters. "As I have told you many times before. Are those your boots, by the way?" she asked.

"Yeah. Thought I might use the room for something at least."

Esdese looked around a bit in the small storage room. "This is big enough. This room will be my office."

That made Tatsumi stand up from the bed again. "What?"

"I will need a place where I can do my paperwork and hold my meetings. This room isn't really big enough but it will serve." she said and closed the door. Turning around towards him. "Besides, it will be a sweet little insult to force all the leaders of the empire to come down and squeeze into this small room whenever they want an audience with me."

Tatsumi slowly scratched his head. "Why don't you do this in your own quarters. You could almost fit a whole regiment in those rooms."

Esdese didn't answer him. She snapped her fingers and suddenly the big iron door opened again. Attendants walking into the room. Most carrying boxes. Some others of them carrying furniture.

"Esdese..." Tatsumi said and looked at her. "Are you going to live here with me? Down in the dungeons?"

Esdese looked at him. A slightly wondering look on her face. Since all of this seemed so obvious to her. "Of course. I would have preferred to go against the emperor and keep you in my own rooms. But since you insist on following his command, I will also move away from those parts of the palace. Not that this bothers me that much."

Tatsumi took a couple of slow steps towards her. The attendants had started to unpack the boxes and put down the furniture all around them. "For the first time in a long while, I actually feel like your love is a genuine blessing. And not partly a curse." he said as he reached her.

Esdese turned towards him. "Took you long enough to realize."

"So you will force the entire military leadership to come down into these unpleasant rooms whenever they want or need your attention. Just so that you can live in the same rooms, or rather, room as me? So that we can still sleep in the same bed?" Tatsumi said with a smile.

"Pretty much, yeah." She said and put her hands on her hips. "We are partners. We should be sharing the same nest. Besides, these rooms aren't that bad. They will be fully serviceable. After some furnishing."

Tatsumi couldn't stop a grin from forming on his face.

"What?" Esdese said and looked at him. "Did you think that I was going to walk all the way down here each time I wanted to see you."

Tatsumi took a step forward and hugged her. Once again, surprising Esdese slightly. Since she had not been able to detect any urgent need for intimacy from him.

"Huh." she said and looked down on him. Her smile partly patronizing. "Did the trial wear on you? Did the tension get to you, my sweet little Tatsumi?" she said and slowly patted his head. "You usually hide away any expressions of love for me behind pathetic excuses about independence. At least when there are others around."

"Independence is a sign of strength. I thought you liked that sort of thing."

"You need to realize when your struggling is pointless and accept your defeat gracefully. And your feeble wish for independence stands no chance against my relentless love for you."

"Woe is me." Tatsumi chuckled lightly. Taking a deep breath before he continued. "I don't think you have realized it, Esdese. But right now, you are quite literally the only friend and ally that I have left in the entire world. Every single faction in this nation has branded me as their enemy. All are intent to see me fall. All except you. You are the only thing that I have left. Literally."

"Ohhh" Esdese said and looked up from him for a moment. Her eyes widening slightly as her cheeks grew slightly flushed. "That is great, Tatsumi!" she said with much more energy. Her arms grabbing him and pressing his body against hers. Forcing him to stand up on his toes.

"Thank you for being so understanding of my sorrow." Tatsumi's muffled voice said. His eyes looking up at her with a slightly exhausted look.

"No, I mean it. This is perfect." she said. Slightly swinging him a bit back and forth. Waggling a bit. "I should be your only true ally. The only one who has your affection and love. There should be nothing left of it for anybody else." she said. Her expression happy and satisfied.

They just stood like that for some moments before Tatsumi spoke. The people around them furnishing out the room.

"Things are probably going to get rather nasty now." he said silently. He took a step back from her. Since he found it hard to have a serious discussion when he was pressed against her breasts. "I have a feeling that things are about to become unstable. And it feels like we might be standing on a cardhouse."

"I feel the same way." Esdese said indifferently. Still looking happy. "This will be a lot of fun."

Tatsumi sighed lightly. "You are so goddam crazy, Esdese. You know that, right?"

She shrugged. "It's all about perspectives."

"Will you at least try to prevent things from turning to hell?"

"I happen to really enjoy the situation that you are referring to with "hell"."

"Ok, will you at least not destroy the fragile stability that we have now yourself?"

"It's nothing strange about something fragile being broken. It is the natural way of things." she calmly stated.

"You are one of the leaders of this nation, Esdese. Isn't it your duty to protect this nation and its stability?" Tatsumi tried.

"This nation has chosen a new leader. I am just the great general now. A warrior. It is up to emperor Kotaro to ensure stability. My job is to destroy the enemies of this nation. Nothing more."

"Esdese." Tatsumi said and moved a little bit closer to her again. Looking her straight in the eyes. A serious expression on his face."I am begging you. Please don't escalate this into another civil war. It would tear the capital and the nation apart if you came at odds with the imperial court or the military."

Esdese looked at him for a little while. Then she raised her arms and pulled him close again. Slowly stroking his back as she looked up at the ceiling.

"I am so tired of this, Tatsumi." she said silently. "Of these charades. All the talking. Everyone trying to justify themselves. Everyone hiding their true motives and intentions. Everyone trying to find bureaucratic loopholes or rules that they can use to further their own agendas."

Tatsumi looked up at her as she continued.

"They are all so weak. No one dares to be honest with what they want. No one dares to come out and say that they want you dead. No one dares to challenge me openly. No one dares to declare that what they really want is power, money or influence. Everyone playing a game of politics, deceit and lies. Simply because they are too weak to openly challenge their enemies." she said and sighed. "And I am just supposed to play along with their charades? When I literally could destroy them and all they love. I could take the throne and declare myself empress today. And just tell them that they are free to challenge me if they object to anything I say. And no one would be able to stop me." she said and looked down at him for the first time since she had started talking. "Do you understand my irritation?"

"It is sometimes hard to relate to your reasoning, Esdese. But I think I can see where you're coming from."

She nodded down at him. "They play their little game and try to insult and oppose me through it. Why should have patience and play along in that game when I can just flip the entire table and shove their board pieces through their eyes."

"That is quite an image for you." Tatsumi said. "But I understand what you mean. Even if I can't relate. But please just play along for the time being."

"Well, I wasn't planning on doing anything too radical for the time being. Though if they sentence you to death, then that will change."

"Ohh that won't happen." Tatsumi said in hollow certainty. Still convinced that he would be found guilty. He still had no solution for that inevitable problem. "Besides, you have already told me that the throne of the royal family is quite uncomfortable."

"Yeah, it is." Esdeese said. "I have no interest in ruling. I enjoy leading large forces into glorious battles and I enjoy dominating those around me. But that is different from ruling over a nation. At least if you want to make it into a successful and growing one. I know the kind of bureaucratic and political work that requires. And it bores me to death. I have absolutely no interest in it. Just by being the great general, I almost have more of that kind of work than I can stomach."

"Yet you kept acting as the leader of this nation for almost half a year. Ever since the prime minister died to a couple of months ago, when the new emperor was appointed."

"I kept doing it because I had promised that I would. I promised that I would keep this nation stable until a new leader could be found."

"Yeah, You promised the old imperial court and the prime minister. All of those are long gone now."

"They are." Esdese simply acknowledged. "But I don't back down from my promises. Even if I am the only one left standing. But now the empire has a new leader. My promise is now fulfilled. The martial law has been lifted. I am no longer pledged to keep stability. Just to destroy the enemies of the empire."

"But the one who plays the political game the best will be the one who decides who the enemies of the empire are."

"True." Esdese said. "So I will play things by ear. We will see what the next move of the emperor and his imperial court will be. But I will say this, I have destroyed almost all of the empire's enemies that I could find. But if the judge and jury of this new imperial court, that I have had no part of creating, will sentence you to death, then it will be clear that I have plenty of people that I need to destroy within the palace."

Tatsumi just sighed and rested his head on her shoulder. "Let's just play it cool and see how things turn out for now."

They had been standing close to each other and talking quietly for some time now and them people around them had already managed to make the bleak room look a little bit better. Still working as the two lovers held each other in the middle of the room.

Tatsumi thought about the situation. If this had been some years ago, he would have jumped for joy if Esdese told him that she felt like destroying the empire. He had begged her to join him on that quest during the first night they had spent together.

But now everything had changed. The prime minister was no more. The revolutionary movement of the people was gone.

The imperial court had been cleansed and purged. What remained of it was struggling to weed out the corruption. Which had grown so entrenched in the system during the prime minister's rule. A corruption that Tatsumi had made himself a part of in order to destroy the old ways. Now the court was struggling to stay in control against the corruption of old and a military whose loyalty seemed to be scattered to many different places.

But then again, in a sense, things were just as they had always been, Tatsumi thought as he took a deep breath of her smell. The problem was right back to where it had always been. The cruelty of the old ways was being rooted out. People like Gallus was still around but in general, the empire had started to cleanse itself. But it would never be able to change fully if the wrong people were in control.

And there was one person who still remained and upheld the old ways. And he loved her so.

* * *

Wave kept his head low as he walked through the crowded street. Careful to avoid any contact with those around him.

He was wearing the same brown robes that he had worn when he first arrived in the capital, a couple of days back. A large cowl obscuring most of his face.

He himself only able to see the lower bodies of everyone else on the street. But he still kept a fast pace. Knowing exactly where he was heading. He was in one of the most rundown parts of the capital. Far away from the palace. Close to the humongous wall that encircled all of the city. Yet the streets were lively in the middle of the day. Full of people heading to their different occupations.

He walked for almost twenty minutes when he reached his destination. An old garbage station. A huge brick building with tall chimneys rising up towards the sky from its roof. The building surrounded by tall walls with barbed wires on the top of them. This station had not been in use for a long time but Wave knew the dark history of the place. It had been used by the corrupted elite to dispose of corpses they wanted gone. Back when the imperial government still tried to be discreet about all its injustices. Before the prime minister got as powerful as he did. Wave wondered how many people that had been turned ashes in large ovens of the building.

He walked up to the main gate of the wall surrounding the industrial building. There was a homeless man sitting along the wall. Not too far away from the gate. Sitting on the ground with his back against the wall. Huddled over. As Wave walked up towards the gate, he threw two coins in the empty bowl that the beggar had standing in front of him.

"May good days come to you, sir." the man called out when Wave had passed him.

"We will see to it that it does." Wave answered clearly.

After he had answered with those exact words, he could hear how the locks on the gate he was approaching were unlocked. He didn't knock before he grabbed the handle of the giant iron slide door and opened it up. Having to put some force in his pull, since the door weighed considerably. Afterward, he quickly moved through the gate and closed it behind him.

The yard he opened was empty. Not a soul in sight. Without looking around he moved across the deserted and dusty yard. Walking briskly to the main door into the factory. Entering the already half open door.

The hall he entered was not lit up by any lights or fire. The only light in it coming in through the windows and partly open door. But Wave already knew that the room was an old and abandoned workstation. Full of production lines and containers. He walked up an iron stair in the middle of the room. Entering another hall like the one he had been in on the second level.

He walked through a couple more rooms before he noticed those that now were following him. He couldn't tell when they had started to shadow him but it had been after he had entered the factory. Not that it bothered him. He knew who they were. After a couple more rooms and stair, he arrived at his destination.

Makeias was standing in front of a long row of broken windows. Back turned towards him when he entered the dark room, looking out through the windows. Not that one could see much through the windows. They were far too dirty to offer any clear view of what was outside. Those of the windows that lacked pieces or glass were the only way to see that the window overlooked a little bit of the city outside.

He seemed to be the only one in the large room but Wave knew better. Makeias was almost never alone these days.

"What news from the intelligence, Wave?" Makeias asked without turning around. His voice slow and raspy. As if he hadn't talked for a couple of hours.

"In general good news, with one grave exception." Wave said and walked up to Makeias. "General Faye has created a rift within the imperial leadership by somewhat secretly working to denounce Esdese."

"A foolsih task." Makeais said. "But her heart will not allow her to do anything else. She is too good of a person to just stand by and watch Esdese set the rules. Thankfully, she is smart enough to realize that she can't challenge Esdese openly in any way. Even if she ventured a little bit too close with that whole trial business."

"Do you think she will succeed?"

"I wish she would, but I am confident that she won't. She doesn't have the resolve to remain passive in the face of cruelty. She will lash out in some way and then Esdese will crush her. In a way, Faye reminds me of Najenda. And I think she will meet the same fate."

"You killed Najenda, sir." Wave said in an apologetic tone. "Do you think that Faye is our enemy?"

"Even if she realized that we were the ones that gave her all that information, she still wouldn't join us. Should she, against all ods, manages to outplay Esdese and somehow render the ice queen irrelevant, then she would probably be coming for us next. Our history isn't precisely sugarcoated."

Wave sighed and nodded. Even if Makeias wasn't facing him.

"And what are the other news?"

Wave waited for some moments before he spoke. "They took him alive, sir."

Makeias head tilted down a little bit. Wave didn't need to say the name. They both knew who they were talking about.

"Are we certain now?"

"Yeah. Though it hurts to say. The reports were a bit varied on the subject but Jack confirmed it once Esdese arrived to the palace."

"So, Tom-Tom was captured alive." Makeias said slowly. "Which means that something unseen happened. He would never let himself be taken alive by Esdese."

"What do you think will happen to him?" Wave asked. It was a stupid question, he knew that, but he didn't want to already commit the discussion to what obviously was happening or going to happen, to Tom-Tom. Yet Makeias flared up a bit at the question. Turning his head to the side so that he could look at Wave with an eye.

"You know Esdese better than I do, Wave? What do you think will happen to Tom-Tom?" Makeias said bitterly.

Wave only looked down at his feet. Clenching his fists.

"The question is if Tom-Tom will break or not? Or rather how soon will he break?" Makeias said and returned his gaze forward.

"Tom-Tom is a noble creature. He won't sell us out."

"Not by choice, no. But some would say that one's willpower or solidarity can only get you so far. Sooner or later, the mind breaks. The question is, will Tom-Tom die before his sanity leaves him and he starts to reveal our secrets by mistake."

"I always thought that Tom-Tom seemed strong willed."

"I think so too. But this is the ice queen we are talking about. I don't think she will kill him by mistake. She knows these things. She knows how far she can go before she has to give things some time and let her victims recover. So that the pain can sink in a bit before she starts again."

"Tom-Tom was a warrior." Wave tried. "She often gives those she respects a warrior's death."

"Do you think her preferences will stop her from going for the best solution to the empire's problems?" Makeias said. A bit of irritation creeping into his voice. "You know better."

Wave was silent for a little while after that bbefore he spoke. "So what? Should we try and rescue him?"

"We only had one chance to do that, and that was when they moved him through the capital. But they were smart and didn't parade him around. They kept it a secret that they had him. And now it is too late. We have no chance of getting him out of the dungeons of the palace. If we were capable of just breaking through the palace with all its gathered military might, then we would have done so long ago."

"So Tom-Tom is lost then." Wave said silently.

"Maybe. But we don't know." Makeias said. "He might hold out until we find the right moment to strike. But we don't know for sure."

"And what if he breaks? How will we know when we have lost?"

"The first thing they will do, is silence Jack. So the day when he stops reporting to us as normal, then we know that shit is about to hit the fan."

"And meanwhile, we can do nothing but wait for this "Chance" to come up? Can't we be a bit more proactive than this?" Wave said. Sounding slightly stressed.

"We need to wait." Makeias said in an empty voice. "We can't do this on our own. We have to wait until the conflict within the palace fully evolves before we have a chance. The thing is, I don't think we are the only ones who are waiting for an opportunity."

"What do you mean?" Wave said slowly.

"What I mean is that the situation might explode any minute." he said slowly. Reaching within his ruined robes. Producing a bottle filled with that milky liquid that Tom-Tom had ordered Wave to give him before they marched off towards the capital. "There are four factions at work here. There is Esdese and Tatsumi. They are probably the strongest faction in the empire when it comes to pure military and destructive power. Depending on how much of the military Esdese actually controls. Then there is the new emperor. With Faye and the imperial court behind him. In theory, they should be the most influential power. Since they control the political system. At least in theory."

Makeias took a swig from the bottle before he continued. Hissing after he had swallowed it down. As if it was a strong alcoholic beverage. "Then there is us. Our entire force hidden among the poor and homeless in the capital. Waiting for a chance to strike at the palace. And lastly, it is safe to assume that the remains of Night raid are also within the city's wall. Probably waiting for the right opportunity themselves."

"It is a wonder that we haven't run into any problems yet." Wave said.

"Agreed. All of us are sitting on a barrel full of gun powder. And just such a small thing as you running into Leone on the street by chance, could be enough of a spark to start the explosion, and set this whole city aflame."

"But there are only two factions that are proactive here." Wave said. "Both we and Night Raid are only waiting for a chance to strike. We are passive for the moment. It is the emperor and Esdese and their respective factions that are the active players in this silent conflict."

"Yeah, because the moment we act, Night Raid will strike as well. And vice versa. Then the conflict will go from silent and quiet to roaring and unstoppable." Makeias said and emptied the bottle. "And now we are on the clock. Tom-Tom's capture is a hard blow. Not only because of what will now happen to the gentle old giant, but also because this means that we might be forced to act before we have gotten our chance. If we get any indication that Tom-Tom has started talking, then we need to spring into action immediately."

He threw the empty glass bottle to the side. It flew away into the darkness of one of the corners of the room. Wave couldn't see where it landed but he heard how it shattered. They both stood silent for a while. Makeias staring through the muddy window. Wave staring at his back.

"Should you really be drinking that, general?" Wave said after a while. Trying to divert the discussion to another topic temporarily. "It seems poisonus."

"Yeah. Most flammable liquids are." Makeias said and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "But fire might be the only thing that can slay Morbus at this point."

"Is it really that bad." Wave said with a concerned voice.

"No." Makeias lied. "Not yet. But it is growing more and more powerful. So we need to be prepared, in case the teigu will act out. Setting it aflame will be one possible solution. That or freezing it."

"No matter how we play this, I feel like it will end with that. Ice and fire." Wave said.

"And gods knows that I am tired of that song." Makeias answered with a nod. "But there is one more thing that might stop it. Though currently, it is in the hands of Akame."

Wave looked down at his own hand as he closed it into a fist. "I will kill that woman. If it so is the last thing I do."

"Be well prepared if you plan to go up against her. She is not an easy opponent." Makeias said. "Some would say that the only harder opponent you could pick would be Esdese herself."

"It doesn't matter." Wave said. "I will kill her. For Kurome's sake."

For the first time during their discussion, Makeias turned towards Wave and looked at him properly. "One thing at the time, Wave. I suspect that Night Raid is in the capital as well. But our main target is Esdese and Tatsumi. Don't let vengeance lead you astray from that.

Wave simply nodded in response. "So what do we do now?"

"We wait and we observe. Everyone will have to be at the ready. It will be a strain for us but we will have to be prepared to act on a moments notice. Because now we are on the clock. And if we are revealed, then we will have no choice but to strike instantly. No matter how low our chances are." Makeias said. He turned around fully and walked up to Wave. "And now you will have to be my second-in-command, Wave."

Wave looked neither surprised or happy about it. He simply nodded again. "I will do my best."

Makeias nodded back. "Go and see to it that everyone is in position. Though keep Tom-Tom's situation a secret. His people are a loyal kind. They might be prone to act out of line if they know of his fate."

Wave took a deep breath. "All right. I'll be back later tonight when everyone has been informed."

With those words, Wave turned around and left. Makeias looking at his back as he walked away. When he had left, Makeias looked down at his own hand. His entire arm bandaged up. All the way up to the fingertips. Just as the rest of his body was. Though even through the white cloth he could see the black color under it. He didn't dare to unwrap it to see what his hand actually looked like.

"Just one little spark." he said to himself. "And everything will explode."

* * *

**Author's note:**

**And so the Esdeath story of the canon has finally ended.**

**It wasn't quite as painful as I thought that it would be and I am not quite sure why. Maybe because I knew that it was coming, or that her final moment became so badass, or the fact that Tatsumi survived. I am a bit unsure of which but I thought that it would be much more painful.**

**But now we have come to a crossroads, my dear readers. **

**There has always been primarily two things that have compelled me to write this story. The first one was a consolation for watching the ship of TatsumixEsdese sink so spectacularly. The second one, was the response and feedback that I got. Now one of those two has disappeared.**

**I will not rush the ending of Bent but not Broken. I have a clear idea of how everything in this story will turn out. And while this chapter might make it seem like the final confrontation is just around the corner, we still have quite some chapters to go before then. Heck, even if I started the final battle in the next chapter, there would still take me a couple of chapters and an epilog to properly wrap things up. No, this will either go on for quite a bit longer, or I will stop writing after this chapter.**

**And I will leave that decision up to you, dear readers.**

**Because if this story is interchangeable to you, then you might just go and read another story and I can save some time. Because this takes time to write. I enjoy doing it but now half of my motivation to do so is gone. I need to know if this story is in any way special to you. If it is, then please write that a comment. Otherwise, this ends here.**

**I am not asking for long messages or reviews. Just a simple "Keep writing!" is enough. Just so I know that there are people that enjoy this outside of the inner circle of about 30 lovely people that always writes reviews and comments. If the response to this is big enough, I will finish Bent but not Broken properly. (If you think this is a cheap seeking for validation, then yes. Yes it is.)**

**If that is the case, then I will do my best to increase my release pace. I was keeping a good pace during the summer but it has slowed down severely during the fall. If this isn't the last chapter of Bent but not Broken, then I will release the next chapter in 10 days or so. I have already written half of it. **

**If not, then I will write a note at the top of this chapter and as well as on the first chapter. Disclaiming that Bent but not Broken is discontinued.**

**Either way this turns out, I want to thank you all for reading. This story has gone on for almost 2 years now and has become monstrously large. The singularly largest body of work I have ever created. So I want to thank you all deeply and sincerely for sharing this journey with me.**

**I have to admit that I hope that this isn't the last time I write one of these messages too.**

**Hopefully, until next time,**

**Take care of each other.**


	50. Burning bridges

**(The next chapter will be released on the 26th of March.)**

**Well, I sure as hell got my answer.**

**The show will go on.**

* * *

**Burning bridges.**

"For your sake, I hope that this is important." Esdese said. The otherwise imposing threat was undercut when she immediately yawned loudly after finishing it. Covering her mouth with her fingers as her eyes closed.

The courier that was kneeling in front of her looked up at her with big eyes as she did. Immediately looking down at her naked feet as soon as her eyes opened again.

He was wearing the standard military uniform for a courier. His proper and official appearance strongly contrasted by Esdese's own look.

She was not wearing anything but a buttoned up shirt. It was one of her regular sleeping attires. Just a lot more closed up this time. The white cloth just barely covering up her more private parts. Her breasts looked to be at risk of escaping their tight prison at any moments and the end of her shirt reaching barely halfway down her thighs. Not that Esdese seemed bothered by her risque appearance.

She had been sleeping with Tatsumi in her arms less than a minute ago. But when she heard the knock on the door, she had already been aware of what was coming for a while. Sensing the change in the environment long before she actually woke up.

However, the moments before the knocks came, she had been well awake. Thinking about how to handle the situation.

The problem was that their new temporary home didn't have a distinction between their bedroom and their entrance hall. They slept in the first room that you entered into from the corridor. The two other rooms they had were the bathroom and Esdese's small new office. So she had no place to take the meeting without waking Tatsumi up. Since their guest would have to pass through the room they slept in.

So when the knock finally came and Tatsumi had stirred in her arms, she had simply kissed him on the head and whispered to him to stay in bed and sleep. Then she had gotten up and walked over to the door. Buttoning up her shirt completely as she did. The only piece of clothing which she had slept in.

She was way too confident and proud of her body to care about looking a bit more daring. She had always been a show-off and she felt no need to look proper or official for a mere courier.

"So.." she said and scratched the side of her head with one eye closed.".. what is it?"

"I hope that I am not disturbing you, great general."

Esdese just stared down at him for that. "What do you think?"

"I am very sorry, great general. I can return later."

"So that the only thing this would have achieved would have been to wake me up?" Esdese said. Irritation starting to color her voice. She was tired. She had not slept a single hour the night prior. Her attention needed by the military and the imperial court through the whole night. And when the sun rose again, her other duties began anew. So she had not recovered at all. Working intensely for more than thirty-six hours. And while she hadn't let her concentration or perception fade in the slightest during this time, she had been more tired than she had been in a long time when she finally returned to their new chambers down in the dungeons.

She hadn't even had the energy to mess around with Tatsumi. Who she hadn't seen in two days. She had just grabbed him by the collar of his clothes and informed him that they were going to sleep as she dragged him towards the bed. Wanting nothing more than just fall asleep while snuggling with him.

But she had not gotten more than four hours of sleep before this new disruption arrived. Not nearly enough. And she had never been the most patient or forgiving creature in the first place.

"If your reason for waking me up is good, then you have nothing to apologize for. If it is not.." she said and yawned again. As she did, she looked at the courier through a half-closed eye. She recognized the boy. He was one of her own.

"I carry an important message for you, great general."

"Yeah, I would hope so." Esdese said rather nonchalantly. "Well? What is it?"

The courier looked up at her but didn't say anything. Looking rather bothered.

"What is the messages?" Esdese demanded a bit louder. Her old military instincts showing through as she repeated the question with more force. Making the courier flinch. But he still didn't say anything. He slowly looked over to the side. Esdese followed his gaze. Already knowing what he was looking at.

Fifteen meters away from each side of the door she had come out from, guards were stationed. There to overwatch Tatsumi. To warn those monitoring him if he was leaving his room. Both of them were ogling her as discreetly as they could. Turning their eyes away from her the moment that her gaze turned towards them. But not fast enough.

"What are you starting at?" Esdese said in challenging voice. She had no qualms about people checking her out. She enjoyed being admired. In all kinds of ways. But right now she was just annoyed by the interruption. She had a cozy bed and a warm Tatsumi waiting for her on the other side of the door. She could feel that her patience was starting to disappear.

She sighed loudly. "You know what, both of you, leave this floor altogether. I don't want to even feel your presence anymore."

The two guards looked at each other for a second or two, but then did as she ordered. Having both been warned by their superior to not go against her in any way. They walked away in different directions.

When they were well out of earshot, Esdese looked down at the courier. She waved two fingers at him. Signaling for him to stand up. Which he immediately did. All the insecurity from before suddenly gone.

"So, what was it?" Esdese said in a much calmer and more serious tone.

"We have been keeping an eye on the military forces outside of our own in the capital, as you ordered, lady Esdese."

She just nodded and crossed her arms over her chest.

"And just like you suspected, there is a new military branch being formed outside of normal military supervision."

Esdese started to smile. "Of course there is. Who is behind it?"

"Everything points to that the initiative is coming from the emperor himself. Probably with some help from parts of the imperial court."

Esdese nodded with satisfaction. "And they seriously thought they could hide it from me. How large is this force and who is in direct control of it?"

"We don't know the scope of it yet. It is still being formed. The recruits are mainly made up of veterans and people from outside of the capital. Being called in to serve in secrecy. Neither do we know who is in control of it. This force was made to act outside of normal military leadership. Taking their orders directly from the emperor and his court."

"Thus avoiding having to go through me and my administration." Esdese said. Not sounding bothered at all.

The courier nodded to her. "Yeah we think that is their intent. But we also have reason to believe that this force is being aided by some part of the military leadership as well. Since we don't see any way of how they could reach out and recruit all these soldiers without some guidance."

Esdese grabbed her chin with two fingers and looked up at the ceiling for a bit. Still smiling. "So the political leadership is trying to create their own military force in secret. Just so that they don't have to go through me, every time they need some muscle behind their agendas and ideas."

"At best, they just want to have a more direct arm so that they can act quicker. At worst, they want to have something that they can defend themselves from the military with. In case the military leadership should turn against them."

Esdese looked down at him again. Looking happy but not in a sweet way. "And you think that they have some help from the military leadership?"

"We have reason to believe so, yeah."

"How high up?"

"I am sorry, my lady, but I can not say for sure. But it might be as high up as an imperial general."

"Good. Then I know what to do next." she said. She looked at him. "You and your team have done good work. I will expect you to keep it up, courier Ike."

"We will, great general. I will not fail you."

"I don't think you will, Ike." she said. She looked him up and down. "You are growing up nicely. How are you doing? Is your brother well?"

The young man smiled and nodded at her. " We are doing fine, my lady. Thanks to your patronage. My brother is finally learning how to fend for himself. Soon enough, he will be old enough to start learning the ways of the sword. Just as I did. Thanks to you."

She smiled a slightly warmer smile at him. "If it at some point looks like he is going to become a good warrior, then I expect you to recruit him into my forces."

"I would be honored to, great general Esdese." the courier said and saluted her.

She nodded to the side. "Don't hesitate to wake me up if you get more developments like this." she said. Her tone telling that the discussion was over.

"I will, great general." the man said.

They looked at each other for some moments. A friendly and respectful exchange. Then Esdese slapped him quickly and loudly. The courier shrank away. Returning to the insecure and scared demeanor he had before the guards left. He gave her a small smile and then started to slowly run away down the corridor. Loudly apologizing for waking her up as he ran. Making a point out of keeping his reddening cheek as visible as possible to everyone he passed.

Esdese smiled slightly at him as he ran away. Making a mental note to have a look at the courier's younger brother. Then she turned around and walked back into her momentary home.

_So they honestly think that I am nothing but violence and power_, she thought as she walked through the dark room. Unbuttoning her shirt again as she did. _I guess they will learn the hard way that I am not blind to their tricks and games._

She crawled back into the bed. Wrapping her arms around Tatsumi again. Being in a much better mood than she had been when she left it.

* * *

Everything was dark.

She couldn't see anything at all. And it took her some moments to realize that she could barely move as well.

She wondered where she was. If she was. It took her a rather long time to just verify that she was actually conscious. Since she couldn't see or move. But when she yelled out she could hear her voice loud and clear. To a degree that no dream could replicate. But her calls got no answer.

She had no clear grasp on time. Since she had no references. She didn't know how much time had passed when she fell asleep again. And had no idea of how much time had passed when she woke up again. Having to loudly speak to herself just to ensure herself that she was awake.

She wondered if she had been paralyzed in some way. Unable to move or see anything. That there might actually be people around her but she couldn't detect them in any way. She didn't know which alternative she found more horrifying.

She had lost all grasp of time when she finally got any indication that there was some other life in her now dark existence.

She could hear steps. Far away and faint at first but then slowly coming closer. Growing louder. She would have shouted out but the moments she started hearing those steps, she also started to think that her current state had most likely been forced upon her.

She heard a door open and suddenly she knew that she wasn't alone anymore. There was someone else there. Probably just some meters away.

"Who are you?" she asked. A bit louder than she had intended.

"We will leave that detail for later." the voice of a somewhat young woman answered.

"What have you done to me?"

"We have kept you drugged up. So that you couldn't move. I know that we already have removed Lionel from you but we had a feeling that you might be dangerous without it as well. So we chose to not take any chances."

"Ok, so where am I?" Leone asked in a lighter tone. Even if she did not think that the person she was talking to was her friend, the mere interaction with another human being cheered her up immensely. Anything was better than the solitude.

"Down in a cellar." the girly voice answered in a rather sweet tone.

"I had hoped for something more than that."

"You are in a cellar in the capital." the voice answered. It seemed to come from the same place all the time so Leone could guess that the person was stational. "But I won't tell you anything more than that."

"Was it you that knocked me out?" Leone asked.

"Yeah, it was. I decided to strike before you had activated Lionel. If you had had the teigu activated, I think it would have escalated into a rather violent battle pretty quickly."

"We wouldn't want that, would we?" Leone said. Her comedic side showing itself by instinct. Despite the grim situation she was in. "Were you following me when I pursued the imperial general?"

"I was around."

"You must be a really quick one. Since you were able to knock me out before I could even react to you."

"You were occupied with the general. Or who you thought to be the general."

"What do you mean?"

"Never mind that. I came here to ask questions. Not answer them."

"Ask away. But I think you will be disappointed."

Her captor turned silent for a little while. Leone had actually started to wonder if she had been left alone again before the voice returned. "Leone of Night raid, why do you fight? Why do you keep fighting, now that your chances of success has been rendered insignificant?"

"Our struggle was never based on the chances of success. We didn't start fighting because we were confident in our success." Leone said with newfound disdain.

"Then why do you fight?"

"Because we're fucking humans." Leone spat angrily. "We have some goddam decency to us. It is not a matter of choice. If we have strength, then we are obligated to act when faced with cruelty of this magnitude."

Her words were followed by some moments of silence before the voice spoke up once more. "Those who created this cruelty is also humans."

"There will always be bad apples. The problem is when they get powerful enough to rule over everyone else."

"Shouldn't it be the obligation of the people to render these bad people powerless? The majority of the people of the empire seem to not oppose this regime."

"Not everyone is powerful. Not everyone can dedicate their lives to fighting. For many, it is smarter to just bow your head and think of your friends and family."

Another silence followed Leone's words before the answer came. "The imperial court has started to cleanse itself. The prime minister is long gone and a new emperor has risen to power. And his first act was to cleanse out a large part of the corruption. In the form of the execution of the special police force known as the new imperial guard along with the revelations about the manipulation by the head administrator Tatsumi."

"As long as Esdese remains in control of the imperial military, the people will suffer." Leone said with determination.

"Fully agreed." the unknown voice answered immediately. Causing Leone's eyebrows to rise in surprise. "The ice queen must be brought down. Before that, all other change is meaningless. Since it can easily be made undone by her."

This time it was Leone's turn to stay silent for a while before she spoke. "Why am I here? Why haven't you killed me? Or released me, if that is your intent."

"Mainly because I don't know if you are my enemy or not." the voice said. "Despite the fact that you were shadowing me and is a known assassin."

"I was shadowing you? Wait, who are you?" Leone said.

"We will see, Leone of Night Raid. I am starting to think that you might not be my enemy after all. Even if you yourself don't know it yet." The voice said as it moved away. Leone could hear how she was taking steps away from her. "But this will have to be it for our small talk. I am very busy and my absence will easily be noticed if I disappear for too long. And then it will be questioned. And that could very easily turn things rather... messy."

"How long will I be kept here?" Leone asked a bit louder as the steps moved away further.

"I don't know, to be honest. But not too much longer, I hope. Depends on how long it will take until we can talk again."

"Wait, at least tell me who you are?" Leone called out loudly but the only answer she got was the sound of a door closing.

She called out a couple more times as the steps slowly disappeared but she got no response. When the steps had finally disappeared completely, everything was silent. And she was once again alone with the darkness.

* * *

"For some people, your cap is probably enough to be seen as some kind of domination accessory."

"Hmm?" Esdese wondered.

She was standing by the only table that had been placed in the main room of their new apartment. The room also acting as their bedroom. Their bed in a corner of it. Not the bed that had been left there for Tatsumi but not the giant bed from Esdese's quarters either. Since that would take up almost a third of the room This was something in between. Big enough to fit them both but making physical contact hard to avoid.

Tatsumi was doing push-ups, shirtless, in a corner of the room. Not having that much to do with his time at the moment. Esdese was folding some papers that she had just been reading through. Putting them on the only table in the room.

"You know, the classical dominatrix uniform that girls usually wears when they play those kinds of games. They always have a cap that looks like the one you always wear."

"This is a military beret with the insignia of my clan attached to it."

"Yeah, I know. But you must be aware of what I am talking about." Tatsumi said. Some sweat trailing down his temples. He had forgotten how many push-ups he had done already.

"Why would a certain set of clothes be associated with who is the dominating one? The interactions are what decides that. Sure, looks can signal your personality but a relationship of dominance and submission is expressed through the interactions."

"So you mean to say that your entire attire has nothing to do with any of that culture? The thigh high boots. Your really short skirt. Your giant cleavage and that cap. Combined with those gloves. You must have taken some inspiration from that community."

"If you got something that you are proud of, you should not be afraid to flaunt it. And besides, I prefer the feel of cotton over leather."

"AHA!" Tatsumi said triumphantly. Looking up at her. "So you do know what I am talking about!"

"I have a meeting now, Tatsumi." Esdese said nonchalantly and put the last of the papers down on the table. Ignoring his triumphant exclamation. "We will be in my office if you need me."

Tatsumi was about to ask who she was meeting with but just some moments before he did, he could feel a group of people approaching the door to the room. Coming down the corridor outside it. Esdese had probably been able to detect them a long time before he did. He forced his hands down to the floor with enough force to push himself up to standing position. Walking over to a towel that was hanging over one of the room's chairs. Four of them standing around the small table Esdese was standing by.

He had barely draped it over his shoulders before there was a knock on the door.

"Enter." Esdese commanded without looking at the door. Her eyes stuck at Tatsumi's well-defined stomach.

The door opened and general Gallus walked in. His head still wrapped up in bandages. His wounds from Esdese's punch not fully healed yet. Followed by two of his attendants. Young men looking like monks of some sort. One in about Tatsumi's age and one a little bit older. Both wearing the same black and white robes as Gallus did. The hair on their head shaved in the traditional way.

They were in turned followed by general Faye. Surprisingly enough, her face didn't show any trace of the kick Esdese had given her just some days prior. Not wearing any bandages or band-aids. She was followed by her own attendant, Ivan. He seemed to have mostly recovered from his fight with Tatsumi himself. The big man's face no longer covered up in bandages anymore.

"Ahh, my generals." Esdese said in a welcoming voice. "I am glad that you are here. Come with me." she said and turned around. Walking towards the only other room in the apartment. Beside the bathroom.

The generals and their attendants looked around the room as they followed Esdese.

Many of their eyes landing on Tatsumi briefly. But only the ones of Faye and Ivan remained on him for more than a moment.

"Hey!" he said and smiled at Faye. Waving a hand at her.

She only returned his grin with a sweet smile of her own. "Greetings, head administrator Tatsumi."

"Could I just have a minute of your time, general." he said. Casting a quick glance over at Esdese as he did. She was already looking at him over her shoulder when he looked in her direction. They stared at each other for some moments. Then he winked at her with the eye that their visitors couldn't see. Since he had turned his head in Esdese's direction.

She looked at him for a second or so after that but then she just shrugged with a smile and kept walking. "Come into my office as soon as you are done, general Faye."

Faye didn't seem overjoyed by Esdese's words since she now had little choice but to talk to Tatsumi if she didn't want to start a scene. She smiled her usual sweet smile. "I will be with you shortly, great general."

Esdese just walked on into her small office. Gallus and his attendants following her. Casting curious looks at Tatsumi as they walked through the door after her. Ivan stayed behind with them. Standing a bit behind Faye. The general turned to him when Gallus' attendants had closed the door after them.

"I hope that this won't take too much time, head administrator."

"Listen." Tatsumi said and took a couple of steps towards her. "I won't be able to make a good case for myself in what little time we have here but I want you to try and consider what I am trying to say."

"And what is that, head administrator Tatsumi?" Faye asked in her usual sugary voice.

Tatsumi took another step closer to her. Causing Ivan to also take another step closer. Not trusting him. Tatsumi spoke in a much lower voice when he continued. "I am not the man that you think that I am, Faye."

"Care to elaborate a little bit?" Faye answered. Her face a smiling mask.

"I am nothing like Esdese. I am not your enemy."

"Ohh I know that you are not the same as her, Tatsumi. You are far more sneaky and far more devious."

"For a good reason. It is stupidity to flaunt your ambitions if you aren't sure about your success. Especially when we share this world with such insane beings as her."

"Agreed." Faye answered with the same fake sweetness.

"I do not condone even half of the things that Esdese does. I don't share her beliefs or her cruelty." Tatsumi said. Almost whispering now.

"So you say. Yet you have let her do all the grim deeds she has done without interfering and some times without even objecting."

"What were my choices?" Tatsumi hissed in light irritation. "You have to pick your fights. Especially when dealing with such an unstoppable force."

"According to my sources, you have worked rather closely with Esdese, ever since she killed the prime minister." Faye said.

Tatsumi picked up on her misinformation. Whoever it was that had given her the information about him was clearly trying to paint him in a very bad light. He decided to make a slightly risky bet. "Esdese didn't kill the prime minister. That is just what we told everyone. I killed him. And she nearly killed me for doing it."

That caught Faye a bit off guard. Her eyebrows rising slightly. "Let's say that what you say is the truth, just for the sake of argument. Why are you trying escape from one accusation by confessing to an ever greater crime?"

"Because if you are anything of what I have been told that you are, then you know that I did the right thing."

Faye stayed silent as he talked. Which Tatsumi hoped meant that she was considering what he was saying.

"Listen, Faye, this trial is a horrible idea. At best, it will lead to the death of you and most of the imperial court that has just been instated. At worst, it will lead to another civil war and the death of the empire. Then Esdese will turn this nation into true anarchy and horror."

"So you are actually aware that you are going to be convicted in the trial." Faye said. Her smile had lessened considerably. Her expression mostly just surprised.

"Of course they are going to find me guilty! You wouldn't be able to even have a trial if you didn't have some kind of evidence or information about what has happened. And just a fraction of all the laws that I have broken will be enough to give me a rather harsh sentence. And then Esdese will step in."

Faye just nodded in response. Tatsumi chose to continue when she stayed silent.

"I don't know what kind of plan you have cooked up for when that obvious situation arrives but you need to understand that I am not your enemy here, Faye. And there are better ways to do this. Without throwing the capital and the nation into civil war."

"Esdese will never step down or change her ways. A conflict like this will be inevitable." Faye stated blankly. Her smile almost gone.

Tatsumi had a hard time arguing with that. "There are better ways to do this. You cannot win against Esdese. Not in an open conflict. And what do you think will happen if this conflict erupts properly? Do you think the neighboring nations that we are at war with will just sit idly by? Do you think the pillager and his guerrilla forces will just remain passive? Everyone will seize that opportunity and this nation will be thrown into a much worse state than what it is in now."

Faye remained silent for a little bit after that. Just looking at Tatsumi. Sizing him up. "What better ways?"

"Well, for a start, you can try to postpone or cancel this trial. After that, we can think about the next step."

"We? You already talk like we have some sort of alliance. Yet I have no reason to believe any of your words yet."

Tatsumi had been prepared for that. "I was the one that made sure that Esdese promoted you. Solely based on the fact that you seemed to be "for the people". But you don't even have to believe that. Instead, search for evidence of my betrayal before the death of the prime minister. It won't be easy. Most of it has been destroyed and discarded when Esdese remade the imperial leadership. But I think you can still find pieces of it if you search hard enough. Maybe you have a little informer you can ask?" he said. Putting some more weight on the last sentence. Though it didn't give him any reactions from Faye.

"Evidence of what kind of betrayal?" Faye asked.

"Maybe you can find the information the prime minister gathered about how I burned the imperial archives. Or how I orchestrated the death of great general Budo. Or maybe your little informer can tell you who the late emperor's real killer was."

That actually took away Faye's smile completely. Her expression blank. "Call me crazy but these claims are so ridiculous that I actually think that there might be something behind them."

Tatsumi nodded energetically. "Search for the clues. They are all hidden out there. Find them and then cancel this insane trial. Before you throw us all into another civil war."

"If there was evidence of all this, then why weren't you jailed and executed before you got to the prime minister?"

"I was jailed. By Esdese herself. Though it was kept a secret. Only a handful of people knew about it. But if your informant is who I think it is, then he will be able to verify this."

Faye stayed silent once more after that. But when she spoke, there was something there that Tatsumi hadn't heard before. Something sincere. "I will give you the benefit of the doubt. Against my better judgment. Not that anything will change between us until I have seen any of this evidence. But I will be looking for it."

Tatsumi smiled warmly at her. Genuinely relieved. Maybe he had just managed to solve the entire situation. "If nothing else, try to postpone this trial for as long as possible. So that we don't do anything hasty or stupid here."'

"I will consider it." she said solemnly. It looked like she was about to say something more when the door to Esdese's small office opened again. Esdese standing in the doorway.

"I don't appreciate having to wait on my own subordinates." she said in a slightly irritated voice. "Will this take much longer?"

"No, great general." Faye immediately responded. Her sweet tone and smile returning in the blink of an eye. She gave Tatsumi a small nod and the walked over towards Esdese. "Sorry for the wait."

Tatsumi looked at her as she walked away. Ivan following her. When he looked over him, his smile got a bit more somber. But he still smiled at the larger man. "I hope your wounds have recovered a bit. I really went overboard last time." he said in a slightly apologetic voice.

"No." Ivan said in a clear and plain voice. "You did not. You were provoked."

Their exchange didn't get to be longer than that. Faye crossing the room rather quickly. Walking through the door to Esdese's office. The great general herself holding the door for them. Finally closing it behind her when they had both entered. Giving Tatsumi a last look and a smile as she did.

Tatsumi didn't like Esdese's expression at all.

It was way too menacing and way too playful, for being a fair representation of how she would usually feel if this was only a normal meeting. He hurriedly walked over to his clothes and Incursio.

After Esdese had closed the door, she turned around. "Well then." she said in a rather loud voice for such a small meeting. "I would offer you to sit down but we haven't brought any other chairs down to this room yet." she said as she walked through the group that had turned around to look at her after they had entered. Everyone moving out of her path as she walked to the opposite side of the door.

The room was very dim. Only lit up by a single lamp that was standing on Esdese's desk in the room. The desk itself was not turned against the door but rather lined up against the side of the room. The desk a bit too wide to comfortably fit standing on its other side without making it hard to pass by it. Esdese sat down in the chair that was placed by it and turned around to her guests. Her legs placed over each other. Resting her head against the knuckles of her hand. It's elbow resting against the desk.

"Can you guess why you are here?" she asked. Her smile foreboding.

"We are here because you summoned us here." Gallus said.

Esdese gave him a tired look. "Brilliant observation, general Gallus."

"You have probably called us here because of what transpired during your absence from the capital." Faye said. Attracting Esdese's gaze. "I guess that you want to know how the new emperor was elected and how the military reacted." she continued.

"Well, you are partly correct, general Faye." Esdese said and closed her eyes. Still smiling. Only now did the guests that had entered the room with her notice that in a sense, they were far from alone in the small chamber. Along the walls on their sides, stood what looked like suits of armor. Almost concealed by the shadows. Since the room was so dark. But there were several large figures of armor standing around them. Much bigger than an average human. Holding spears, swords and maces. Standing completely still. None of Esdese's visitor had seen them when they entered the room.

"I don't really care about which bureaucratic method you used to sneak this decision behind my back. Nor do I really care about how you managed to find Kotaro. His real identity was a rather well-hidden secret."

"Wait, great general. Were you already aware that an heir to the throne was in the cap-" Gallus began to question but Esdese cut him off.

"What I do care about is that my own subordinates went against what would naturally be assumed to be my will." Esdese said. Still smiling at the two generals. "I don't tolerate insubordination in my ranks, generals."

"Great general," Gallus said. Slightly louder than he had intended. "I don't mean to go against you in this but I think it is a bit too harsh to call what we did for insubordination. This was not some sort of mutiny. I hope you can agree with us on that."

"If I had considered this as a true attempt at mutiny, then both you would be dead by now." Esdese said. Still smiling the same calm smile. Clearly the most relaxed person in the room. "But you were the highest ranking military leaders present in the city while this happened. This could not have transpired without you either being a part of it or knowing about it."

The generals were silent at that. Neither of them sure if it was wise to try and deny her words or if they should just stay quiet and hope that this was nothing more than a scolding session. But they both knew that Esdese was not one to just scold people for something like this.

"I will keep asking for forgiveness for as long as it takes, great general." Gallus said stubbornly. Faye keeping quiet for the moment.

"I am not really interested in your excuses, generals. What I need to check is your loyalty." Esdese said and straightened up in her seat. "Since you have given me doubts about it these last weeks."

She slowly rose up from her seat. As she did, a rattling could be heard from the suits of armor standing along the walls.

Esdese put her hands on her hips and walked up to Gallus. Looking at him with a certain challenging tone to her expression. "Let's start with you, general Gallus. Do I have your loyalty?"

"Always!" general Gallus answered without a moment of hesitation.

"Then how will you prove it?" Esdese said and stopped in front of him. When she was well within his personal space. Looking up at him because of their height difference.

"I will prove my loyalty in any way that you see fit!" Gallus proclaimed loudly.

"Any way that I see fit." Esdese repeated slowly. She leaned slightly to the side. Looking at the two young men that were standing behind him. "Who are these two boys that you have brought with you?"

"They are my top aides."

Esdese smile widened. "So they must be some of your best?"

"Yeah. They are some of my most loyal subordinates. Good lads." Gallus said with a smile. Only realizing his mistake after he had already said it.

"How fitting." Esdese said as her eyes moved up and met his again. As she did, the suits of around them started to walk out from the walls. Causing everyone except Esdese to look or turned around towards them. The suits of armor slowly encircling those in the room. Or rather, the subordinates that the two generals had brought with them. Surrounding them from all directions. And as they got closer, Esdese's guests noticed that the giant moving humanoids were made out of ice.

"Great general?" Gallus questioned. But Esdese just smiled at him as the giant soldiers of ice moved closer.

"Loyalty often requires some sacrifices." Esdese finally said after a little while. "So let's try and put your loyalty to test, Gallus."

Without a single warning, all the ice soldiers standing behind Gallus reached out and grabbed his subordinates at the same time. Reaching out towards them quickly. Several giant ice warriors on each of the two of them.

In panic, the young men struggled and swung out at the giant ice humanoids but their assailant seemed to barely register their flailing and thrashing.

"Get off!" the younger one of the two assistant shouted out.

Gallus turned around towards his subordinates. So did Faye and Isaac.

"Great general, is this your doi-" Gallus began but stopped himself as he could feel Esdese's slender finger stroke the side of his face. Her touch gentle. "Eyes over here, Gallus. I was talking to you."

When Gallus turned his head back towards Esdese, her hand grabbed a hard hold around the back of his neck. Pulling his head down until their eyes were basically on the same level. A wide smile on her face as the struggling behind Gallus grew more intense.

"You bastards!" the older one of the assistants screamed as he drove his fist into the head of one of the ice soldiers. Only damaging his own hand. But he hadn't even drawn back his arm from the attack when the front of his chest erupted in a spray of blood and gore. A large piece of ice protruding from it. The ice forming the tip of a spear. One of the ice warriors behind him holding the big weapon.

"You damn.." the heavily wounded man started. No longer having any power in his voice. His lungs unable to push any air out. But before he could finish what he was trying to say, another spear flew into his mouth. Piercing through the back of his head through his neck. Thrust through him by one of the ice soldiers in front of him. In the same second, several other pierced the body of the man from different angles. Skewering him several times over.

"What the hell?" Ivan exclaimed. Both he and Faye as surprised as the other attendant seemed. Taking a couple of steps back. Terror filling the face of Gallus' other attendant. Panic taking full control of him.

"Oh my god!" he shouted as he struggled with the big icy hands that were holding his arms and shoulders.

He kicked the ice soldier in front of him with both his feet. Moving his body upwards as he did. Trying to use the kick to jump up and over the soldiers that were holding his arms. But the room was too crowded. As soon as his legs started to rise into the air, other ice warriors grabbed them. And then, even more hands grabbed his arms, his chest, his legs and his feet. Leaving few parts of his body ungrabbed.

And then they all started to pull.

Esdese's fingers slowly stroked Gallus' neck. An amused and sadistic look on her face as she stared him in the eyes. Gallus himself looking way more stressed. Not daring to look away from her.

"GENERAL!" his subordinate screamed behind him. "HEELP MEE!"

Gallus eyes flickered to the side. Without his head turning enough to see what was happening behind him. Not that he needed to see to know. The sounds were enough.

"Eyes here, Gallus." Esdese ordered again calmly. Forcing Gallus to return his gaze to the ice blue orbs of her eyes.

"GEENERAALL! IITT HUUUURTS!" the young man screamed behind him. "IT'S TEARING! PLEASE! GENERAL! I AM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHHH!"

The man's voice turned more high pitch and wheezing as Esdese's puppets slowly tore him apart.

"Gallus." Esdese said in the same relaxed manner. Gallus only hearing her over the scream because she was so close to him."Who are you loyal to? Who is your admired and beloved leader?"

Gallus eyes were filled with despair as he met her gaze. He had clearly not expected anything like this. His mouth was trembling and his forehead sweaty. Yet he did not move.

"GAAALLLLUUSS!IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-"

With a loud squelch and a ripping sound, the boy's scream abruptly ended as his body was torn into several parts. His body finally giving way to the large ice sculptures that were pulling at him in all different directions. A splattering sound following as his blood and body parts hit the floor. Some of them making a wet sound as they landed.

Silence followed for some moments after that. Esdese slowly stroking Gallus' thick neck with her fingers. "Am I not a kind leader, general Gallus?"

Gallus was silent for a while. Then he slowly nodded. At this moment, not even he was able to act as if nothing had happened.

Esdese nodded back to him. She let go of his neck and took a step back. "Kneel."'

Gallus stood still for some short seconds but then he did as he was told. Kneeling down until his forehead touched the floor. Esdese only stared down at him for some moments. Her expression blank. It was hard to tell if she was disappointed or satisfied with this. But then she nodded again and turned towards Faye.

And it was clear that Faye was handling this a bit differently from Gallus.

The other woman's face was filled with controlled fury. Frowning deeply at Esdese but not doing anything. Esdese walked up to her. Hands on her own hips. Behind her the ice soldiers had seized Ivan. Many of them holding on to him. But Ivan was not fighting back against their holds. Realizing that struggling was meaningless at this point. Since they were clearly both outnumbered and overpowered.

"Then that only leaves you, Faye." Esdese said. Sounding like she was in a rather good mood. Stopping when she a meter in front of the other woman. "And I have feeling that you are the one who really needs a lesson here."

"You have made a serious mistake if you think I am anything like Gallus, ice queen." Faye said determinately.

"I know that you are a different beast, Faye. In a way, I enjoy your type of character more than his." Esdese said and closed her eyes for some moments. "But that doesn't mean that I necessarily like you. Yet that is irrelevant. You are my subordinate. And I made you into a general myself. Nonetheless, if you don't punish misbehavior, then you will never be able to keep order in the ranks."

"You are about to make a big mistake." Faye said with anger.

"Ohh I don't think I am." Esdese said and opened her eyes. Steadily meeting Faye's furious gaze. She could feel that the other woman was about to attack any second now. And that would mark the end of Faye. Esdese didn't dislike the thought of it.

Behind Faye, the ice-soldiers were slowly raising their weapons. Some holding them in hands made out of ice. Some of their arms just ended in weapons. Everything from spears to swords to maces.

"If you do not back off right now, you will have real fight in your own home."

Esdese wasn't bothered at all. "Is that a threat?" she said calmly. Still just smiling at Faye.

Faye leaned forward slightly. Getting ready to strike. But just before she attacked, she was halted by her dearest friend.

"Don't!" Ivan called out in a somber voice. Causing Faye to freeze in her tracks. She slowly looked over her shoulder. Ivan met her eyes with a determined scowl. "Only one of us has to die here today."

"No one of us should die here today." Faye exclaimed loudly. The underlying panic inside of her showing through when she raised her voice.

"We cannot fail now." he said with a determined voice. "If no one of us leave this room, then all we have fought for will end."

Faye just shook her head. She opened her mouth but Ivan superseded her. "Remember the slums, general. Remember the kids."

For reasons undiscernable to anyone but Faye and Ivan, that stopped her from protesting. Just staring at her old friend's eyes. The silence remained for some seconds before Esdese spoke.

"A subordinate shouldn't try to order his superior around." she said. Sounding rather amused. "But then again, I know little about what kind of show you are running with your legions, general Faye."

Faye turned her head back towards Esdese. Her expression furious. "What is this about, Esdese. Why are you doing this?"

"I simply want to test your loyalty, Faye." Esdese said in a kind tone. "Test if you are the kind of person that I think you are."

"This is madness!" Faye spat.

"I want to know if you will bend or break." Esdese said. Ignoring Faye's words. Not seeming bothered by Faye's aggressive hostility.

"Ohh something is about to break, alright." Faye hissed. She got ready to strike but was once again stopped by Ivan's voice.

"FAYE!" he shouted. "We must not fail! Not now. Not here."

Faye spun around towards him. "I will not leave you behind!" she almost screamed.

The big man looked down at her. A sad smile on his face. He loved her so. "It's all up to you now, general."

Faye just shook her head. "No."

"Please, Faye. Remember me. And never give up on what we have promised."

"Ivan." Faye stammered. Her resolution finally breaking. "I can't.." she began to say.

But then the weapons finally fell.

Ivan didn't scream as they hit him. Keeping silent as the first spear hit his shoulder. Piercing deeply down into him. In almost the same moment, an ice sword hit his other shoulder. Starting to cleave through his entire body. The third weapon to hit him was a mace. Hitting him in the forehead. Finally severing his eye contact with Faye as his skull caved in. But that was far from the last hit.

Faye watched in horror as the arms of the ice soldiers kept moving up and down. Striking again and again with lightning speed. Fourteen different weapons filling the room with grotesques sounds as the form of Ivan was completely destroyed. They didn't stop when what remained of his body was down on the floor. They just kept hitting his remains with enormous vigor.

When they finally did stop, it was impossible to see that what remained of him had once been a human. Nothing left but a red and gory past. Mashed out on the floor.

Faye just stood there. Her eyes wide but not moving. Shaking slightly for some moments before she sprung into action. She spun around. Raising her fist as she did. But when she turned around, she found Esdese standing very close to her. Their noses almost touching when she spun around. Esdese staring her straight in the eyes. A teethed smile on her face.

"Now there is a good expression." she said in a slightly husky voice. Brimming with excitement. "So what will it be, Faye?!" she called out loudly. Raising her voice almost without noticing it. "Will you bend or break?"

Faye met Esdese's gaze with a face filled with nothing but relentless hate and anger. Met by Esdese's own expression. A mix of playfulness, excitement, and cruelty coloring her face.

But then Faye managed to get control of herself. After some moments of internal struggle. She very quickly kneeled down. While she was still in control of herself. Putting both her fists down on the floor.

Esdese looked down at her. Still smiling. If albeit a bit calmer. "You are such a false creature, aren't you, Faye?" she goaded cruelly.

"If you say so, great general." Faye said in a voice bereft of emotions.

"People call me a monster but even I wouldn't just stand by and watch my allies die." Esdese continued with sadistic glee. Her hands on her hips again.

Faye simply stayed silent in response.

Esdese slowly raised her foot. Placing her sole down on Faye's head. Slowly grinding it down as she applied more pressure. Forcing Faye's forehead down into the floor. "Ain't I kind, general Faye?" she taunted.

"Yes, you are, great general." Faye stated blankly.

Esdese stayed like that for some moments. Then she nodded. She turned around. Moving her foot away from Faye's head. "You know, I have heard some annoying little rumors. Telling me of a new military force that is being gathered outside of protocol. In secrecy from the imperial military. Right here in the capital."

She sat down in her chair by the desk and leaned back. "You wouldn't have heard of anything like that, would you?"

Both of the general's had remained in their crouching positions. Esdese crossed her arms over her chest. Smiling. "Well?"

On the other side of the room's only door, Tatsumi had his ear pressed against it. He had heard the screams of Gallus subordinates but not anything after that. He was unsure of what he should do. He felt a need to rush in. It was clear to him that Esdese was punishing her generals. But he didn't know how bad it was. Or if it would be wise to rush in and try to ease the situation.

However, he never had to take a decision. Just a couple of seconds later, the door opened and Tatsumi was forced to jump a couple of steps back in order for his eavesdropping to remain undetected.

Faye stormed out of the room. Not bothering with closing the door after her.

"General Faye?" he asked in a genuinely concerned voice.

Faye stopped when she had opened the door that led out of their home. Turning her face towards Tatsumi. Looking at him over her shoulder. Her expression unlike anything he had ever seen on her. Fury and hate being the only things visible. Uncontrolled and wild. Yet Tatsumi didn't miss the tears on her chins.

"Head administrator, your trial is scheduled in five weeks. If I were you, I would start preparing. Cause I will do everything in my power to see that you and yours pay for your crimes."

Tatsumi didn't even need to register her words to understand that this was a different person than the one he had talked with before Esdese's meeting. Something had happened that had changed Faye. On some fundamental level.

"Wait.. where is Ivan?" Tatsumi said and looked around towards the room she had just left. He turned his head around when he heard how Faye started to leave again. "Wait, general Faye! Didn't we have an understa-"

Faye slammed the door shut after her before he had a chance to finish his sentence. He just stood there for some moments. Already able to guess what had just happened. His mind racing.

"Goddamit!" he exclaimed. He turned around and stomped towards Esdese's office. Not even paying any mind to general Gallus who walked out of the room just before he entered it. Walking towards the door out of their apartments. His head low and his shoulder slumped. Mumbling some prayer silently.

Tatsumi slammed open the door that Gallus had closed behind him. Yet the sight he was met with made him stop in the doorway for some moments.

It was a grim scene. He could see the remains of Gallus two attendants strewn out around the room. But Tatsumi couldn't see a trace of Ivan. After some moments he looked at the big red mush that was covering a large part of the floor. Understanding with disgust.

Esdese was sitting down at her desk. Calmly dunking a small stack of papers into the desk in order to make them all line up better. A small and content smile on her face.

The room around her was a horrifying mess but the great general herself looked completely unscathed. Not having a single drop of blood on her. Her giant ice soldiers were nowhere to be seen. But the flesh of the slain still remained.

"ESDESE!" he exclaimed. Not able to hold back a bit of the shock and anger. Even now, her cruelty could sometimes take him aback.

"What is it, Tatsumi?" Esdese asked in a calm voice. Her eyes not leaving her papers.

"Could you not go one single day without having to destroy something?" he said in the same loud voice.

Esdese slowly turned towards him. Leaning back in her chair. One leg over another. "Don't let this bother you. It is just a simple display of power."

"It is three young men losing their lives in a horrible way."

The corners of Esdese's mouth moved up a little bit. "It could have been a lot worse for them." she said in a calm voice. More amused over his discomposure than anything.

"How am I suppose to solve or accomplish a goddam thing when all you ever strive for is violence and chaos?" Tatsumi said loudly. His voice angry. Walking across the room towards her as he did.

"Why are you so bothered, Tatsumi?" Esdese repeated in an entertained tone. Smiling as she tilted her head to the side slightly. "These people were not your friends."

"Has it really gone this far?" Tatsumi demanded as he walked up to her. The remains of Ivan getting stuck under the soles of his boots. "Have we become so rotten that we kill our own allies just to make an example."

"Examples and discipline, Tatsumi." Esdese said. Her smile staying as she rested the side of her head against her knuckles. Her elbow on the desk. "As cute and naive as I find your little tantrum, I can't help but be surprised by it. This isn't the first time you have watched me do these kinds of things."

"Yeah, but it is usually some rather despicable person that gets the more horrible part of your attention." He said and gestured towards the room around her. Taking the final few steps up to her. "What did these poor wretches do, other than being loyal?"

"You have killed people for no other reason than loyalty." Esdese said calmly. Looking up at him. "Both before and after you became mine."

"Yeah, in order to achieve less cruelty in the long run. You only killed them to send a message to the people they followed. A simple threat."

Esdese looked at him for some moments. Then she slowly stood up. Changing their height difference. Smiling down at him. "Don't try and pretend that you are above these sort of tactics, Tatsumi. You have employed them before yourself." Her hand came up and grabbed his chin between her thumb and index finger. Turning his face in her direction. "Why are you so bothered by this?"

Tatsumi just stared at her smiling eyes for some moments before he spoke. Speaking in a calmer voice. Acting a bit more submissive now that Esdese's behavior had changed from amused to dominating. Asserting her position by changing their height difference."There was a better way than this."

"What way?" she asked in a curious voice.

"I could have talked with them. We might have been able to avoid further conflict"

"We have no reason to avoid a conflict. Either way, it doesn't matter, they bent to me just fine. Both of them. Though I am a bit uncertain if Faye took the lesson to heart. But if they should rise up against us again, then I will simply smash them down once more. And if that happens, I will make sure that they will be unable to ever recover again."

"Maybe I would have been able to build some kind of understanding with general Faye. So that we could avoid the trial in some way. You burned that bridge when you killed her subordinate."

"You have said that the trial won't be an issue several times, Tatsumi. You have assured me that it was of no concern." Esdese said. Her smile slightly dangerous. "Did you lie to me?"

Tatsumi didn't answer immediately. Just looking at her amused expression. "I just lost one way to make it a non-issue."

Esdese chuckled slightly. "You are so adorable, my little Tatsumi. This is already a non-issue. You can try and deal with in the ways you prefer. But should you fail, then I will step in and solve it for you."

"How?" Tatsumi said. Already knowing the answer.

"With force. Force and blood."

Tatsumi gave her a darker look. "You promised that you wouldn't escalate this conflict."

"I promised no such thing. Besides, this is how I create stability. This is how the empire has always created stability. Through fear and domination."

"At least for as long as you have been a part of it." he said accusingly.

"I don't really care if some parts of the military regard me as their enemy." Esdese stated calmly. Ignoring him. "I will keep them in line. And when the carrot doesn't work, then you have to use the whip."

"I don't know about Gallus, but there was certainly no love lost between you and Faye before this. I can't imagine that this made her like you any more." Tatsumi said. "She was already your enemy. But if we could just have talked with her we might have been able to lessen to hostility betwee-" he tried when one of Esdese's fingers placed itself over his mouth. Stopping him mid-sentence.

He looked up at her for some moments. His own bitter mood completely contrasted by Esdese.

Her expression amused and condescending. "We don't make peace with our enemies, Tatsumi. We break them. As hard and painfully as we can. Whether you manage to solve this little trial situation by yourself or not is of little consequence in the long run. Because I won't suffer anyone baring their fangs at you. Which is what these accusations are."

She bent in and kissed him on the forehead. A light peck."So you can just relax and stay back. And leave all of this to me."

With those words, she let go of his cheek and walked past him. Leaving him standing amidst the blood and gore as she left the room.

Tatsumi's thoughts were desperate. He now only had one option left. If the trial would be allowed to take place, then he would be found guilty. Esdese had clearly stated that she would overrule any justice or punishment that he was sentenced to. Just by sheer power and force if nothing else helped. And then Faye would easily declare Esdese a traitor who defied the imperial court and its judges and jury. Which Esdese would welcome. And then they would be thrown into a full on civil war. Again.

Tatsumi knew that he would never be able to win back Faye after what had just happened. So he was only left with one more choice. Because there was only one more person that could affect whether or not there would be a trial that he still had any connection to. Except for Esdese.

So now he had to try to meet and reason with emperor Kotaro.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**My usual apologies for the delay.**

**I always knew that I would get a good amount of encouragement to go on with Bent but not Broken. The question was if there would be about the amount that I estimated.**

**Now, with almost 400 different messages and comments, I can definitely say that my expectations were blown away.**

**Bent but not Broken will be completed in the way it was originally intended. Which means that we probably still have another year of this ahead of us.**

**Now, this was another GIANT chapter. I had hoped that it would be smaller but once again the scenarios needed to breathe a bit in order to not seem rushed.**

**From now on, I am going to change the way we handle the releases of this story. I am going to reintroduce the deadlines. But I am going to make them long. Very long. I am going to set them to a date that gives me enough time to ensure that I will be able to meet them. Without fail. So the new deadlines will have longer intervals in between them. But they will be set in stone.**

**Now, I simply can't thank all of you enough for the kind words that you have written. I can't help but feel invigorated. When I fail or go through strife in my life, I will return to all these words that you people have written to me. And I will use them to get myself going again. So really, thank you.**

**I will see you again in a month or so. **

**Take care of each other.**


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